dbcve.org
Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian

CVE-2025-0781

CRITICAL · 9.9 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-01-28
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 2020.3.19 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable Zero-click Patch available

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
An attacker can bypass the sandboxing of Nasal scripts and arbitrarily write to any file path that the user has permission to modify at the operating-system level.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · moderate confidence

This is a sandbox escape vulnerability in the Nasal scripting language interpreter used by FlightGear. Attackers can bypass the built-in sandbox restrictions to write to arbitrary file paths accessible to the user account running the application, leading to potential code execution or data tampering.

MitigationApply the vendor patch to fix the Nasal sandboxing mechanism. Until patched, avoid running untrusted Nasal scripts or running FlightGear with elevated privileges.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 11.0
SimgearApplication
Affected:<= 2020.3.19

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify FlightGear or Simgear installation and version
    Run 'dpkg -l | grep -i flightgear' on Debian systems, or check the application's about/version dialog. For Simgear, run 'simgear-version' if available or check package metadata.
    Affected if The installed version is Flightgear Simgear <= 2020.3.19 or the package version matches Debian 11.0
  2. Confirm Nasal scripting is enabled
    Check FlightGear configuration files (typically in ~/.fgfs or /etc/fgfs) for Nasal-related settings, or inspect the startup output for Nasal interpreter initialization messages.
    Affected if Nasal scripting module is loaded or enabled in the configuration
  3. Determine the user context running the application
    Identify which user account runs the FlightGear process and check that user's file system permissions (ls -la ~user for home directories, specific paths of interest).
    Affected if The application runs with a user account that has write access to sensitive file paths
  4. Review installed Simgear library files
    Locate Simgear library files (typically libsimgear*.so or simgear-* packages) and query their version using 'dpkg -s' or 'rpm -qi' package queries.
    Affected if The linked Simgear library version is 2020.3.19 or earlier

Your environment is affected if FlightGear with Simgear version 2020.3.19 or earlier is installed, Nasal scripting is enabled, and the application runs with user permissions that grant access to files you intend to protect.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 2020.3.19
Vendor patch gitlab.com →
Interim mitigation

Apply the vendor patch to fix the Nasal sandboxing mechanism. Until patched, avoid running untrusted Nasal scripts or running FlightGear with elevated privileges.

Recommended fix High confidence

Simgear > 2020.3.19 (any version newer than 2020.3.19 includes the patch from commit ad37afce)

  1. Check your current Simgear version by running 'apt show simgear-common' or 'dpkg -l | grep simgear'
  2. Update your package lists with 'sudo apt update'
  3. Upgrade Simgear and FlightGear packages with 'sudo apt upgrade simgear-common flightgear' or 'sudo apt dist-upgrade'
  4. Verify the installed version is greater than 2020.3.19 by running 'dpkg -l | grep simgear'
  5. Restart any running FlightGear instances and ensure the Nasal scripting sandbox functions correctly
Caveat Upgrading Simgear may also require upgrading FlightGear to a compatible version; ensure both packages are from the same release cycle

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Debian Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation24.0 h
  • Testing16.0 h
  • Review / QA8.0 h
56.0 hours of engineering $9,760
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Scan for this in your stack

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-0781 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data