CVE-2025-5222
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 · uneditedA stack buffer overflow was found in Internationl components for unicode (ICU ). While running the genrb binary, the 'subtag' struct overflowed at the SRBRoot::addTag function. This issue may lead to memory corruption and local arbitrary code execution.
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 confidenceA stack buffer overflow vulnerability exists in the International Components for Unicode (ICU) library's genrb binary. The 'subtag' struct overflows at the SRBRoot::addTag function during SRBRoot processing, which can lead to memory corruption and potentially allow local arbitrary code execution.
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< 77.1CVSS 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
- High
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the installed ICU versionRun 'genrb --version' or check the ICU library version via 'pkg-config --modversion icu-i18n' or by examining the shared library file (e.g., libicuio.so, libicui18n.so) with 'ls -la' and check for version symlinksAffected if The version number is less than 77.1
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Locate the genrb binary on the systemRun 'which genrb' or 'find / -name genrb -type f 2>/dev/null' to find if the genrb utility is installedAffected if The genrb binary exists and is executable on the system
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Check for SRBRoot data processingInspect any scripts, build processes, or applications that invoke genrb to process SRBRoot data files. Look for command lines such as 'genrb' being run against .txt resource bundle files that may contain language subtag dataAffected if The genrb binary processes SRBRoot data files (resource bundle files with language subtag information)
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Verify binary version matches vulnerable libraryRun 'genrb -V' or 'genrb --help' and cross-reference the linked ICU library version shown with the installed system ICU libraries in /usr/lib/ or /usr/local/lib/Affected if The genrb binary links against an ICU library version < 77.1
A user is affected if their system has genrb present and the ICU library version is less than 77.1, particularly when processing SRBRoot resource bundle data files.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 · scoped77.1
Update ICU to a patched version that addresses this overflow in SRBRoot::addTag. If immediate patching is not feasible, restrict access to the genrb binary and validate/sanitize any SRBRoot data before processing.
ICU 77.1
- Upgrade International Components for Unicode (ICU) to version 77.1 or later to resolve the stack buffer overflow in the genrb binary's SRBRoot::addTag function
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-5222 — 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 sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-5222 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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