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QiskitApplication · Ibm

CVE-2025-1403

HIGH · 8.6 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-02-21
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 1.2.4 or later.
See remediation →
95/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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
Qiskit SDK 0.45.0 through 1.2.4 could allow a remote attacker to cause a denial of service using a maliciously crafted QPY file containing a malformed symengine serialization stream which can cause a segfault within the symengine library.

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 · high confidence

Qiskit SDK versions 0.45.0 through 1.2.4 contain a vulnerability in QPY file parsing where a maliciously crafted QPY file containing a malformed symengine serialization stream triggers a segfault in the underlying symengine library, causing denial of service. The vulnerability is exploitable remotely through specially crafted input files.

MitigationUpgrade Qiskit SDK to version 1.2.5 or later. Until patched, avoid opening QPY files from untrusted or unknown sources.

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
QiskitApplication
Affected:>= 0.45.0, <= 1.2.4

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
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/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. Check installed Qiskit SDK version
    Run `python -c "import qiskit; print(qiskit.__version__)"` or `pip show qiskit`
    Affected if Version returned is 0.45.0, 1.0.0, 1.1.0, 1.2.0, 1.2.1, 1.2.2, 1.2.3, or 1.2.4 (any version from 0.45.0 through 1.2.4 inclusive)
  2. Confirm QPY parsing is available
    Run `python -c "from qiskit import qpy; print('QPY module present')"`
    Affected if The qpy module loads without error, indicating QPY deserialization is enabled in your installation
  3. Identify QPY file processing in your environment
    Search your code or logs for usage of qiskit.qpy.load() function, or inspect any file ingestion pipelines that handle .qpy files
    Affected if Your application or workflow loads or processes QPY files from any source

You are affected if your installed Qiskit version falls between 0.45.0 and 1.2.4 inclusive and your environment loads or could load QPY files.

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.

From vendor data
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 1.2.4
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Qiskit SDK to version 1.2.5 or later. Until patched, avoid opening QPY files from untrusted or unknown sources.

Fix this in Qiskit Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,720
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,752.

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-2025-1403 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