Memory Buffer Bounds ErrorWeakness · CWE-119

CVE-2025-14569

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-12-12
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
55/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
A vulnerability was detected in ggml-org whisper.cpp up to 1.8.2. Affected is the function read_audio_data of the file /whisper.cpp/examples/common-whisper.cpp. The manipulation results in use after free. The attack requires a local approach. The exploit is now public and may be used. The project was informed of the problem early through an issue report but has not responded yet.

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

A use-after-free vulnerability exists in the read_audio_data function in whisper.cpp/examples/common-whisper.cpp up to version 1.8.2. The vulnerability allows a local attacker to potentially exploit freed memory through manipulation of audio data processing.

MitigationUntil an official patch is released, avoid processing untrusted audio files with vulnerable versions and consider implementing manual memory management fixes in the read_audio_data function to ensure proper allocation/deallocation lifecycle.

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

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
Low

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

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 whisper.cpp version
    Check the version tag or release notes in the whisper.cpp repository, or look for version identifiers in the source code headers. Compare against version 1.8.2.
    Affected if Installed version is 1.8.2 or earlier
  2. Locate vulnerable source file
    Search for the file whisper.cpp/examples/common-whisper.cpp in the deployed codebase. Verify the read_audio_data function exists in this file.
    Affected if The file exists and contains the read_audio_data function in the affected versions
  3. Confirm audio file processing is active
    Check if the application or service processes audio files using whisper.cpp. Look for audio file input handling or streaming audio data into the read_audio_data function.
    Affected if The application processes audio files through the vulnerable function
  4. Check for untrusted audio input
    Determine whether the system accepts audio input from untrusted or external sources (user-uploaded files, network streams, etc.) that would be passed to the read_audio_data function.
    Affected if Untrusted audio sources are processed by the vulnerable code path

If the deployed whisper.cpp version is 1.8.2 or earlier and the system processes audio files (especially from untrusted sources) through the read_audio_data function, the environment is likely affected by this use-after-free vulnerability.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Until an official patch is released, avoid processing untrusted audio files with vulnerable versions and consider implementing manual memory management fixes in the read_audio_data function to ensure proper allocation/deallocation lifecycle.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,490
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,984.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-14569 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

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-2025-14569 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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