Deserialization of Untrusted DataWeakness · CWE-502

CVE-2025-60887

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-04-28
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
62/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
An issue was discovered in Cista v0.15 and below. Insecure deserialization of untrusted input under certain conditions may lead to leaking of stack/heap addresses which may be used to bypass ASLR. Classes with pointer-like mechanics under the cista::raw namespace are prone to reference tampering, where Cista does not perform sufficient checks to safeguard against self-referencing pointers and referencing other data within the payload. The leak occurs if the deserialized values are observable by the attacker.

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

Insecure deserialization in Cista C++ serialization library (v0.15 and below) allows leaking of stack/heap addresses through pointer-like classes in cista::raw namespace. Insufficient validation permits self-referencing pointers and cross-referencing within payloads, enabling ASLR bypass when deserialized values are observable to attackers.

MitigationAvoid deserializing untrusted data with Cista; upgrade to patched version when available; implement input validation and authenticated encryption for serialized data from untrusted sources.

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

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

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 Cista C++ library usage
    Search your codebase, build artifacts, or dependencies for 'cista' library files or headers (e.g., include/cista/*.h, libcista.a, libcista.so)
    Affected if The Cista serialization library is present in your environment
  2. Check Cista library version
    Inspect the version tag in the library source, header files, or package manager metadata (look for version indicators in README, VERSION file, or library filename containing 'cista')
    Affected if The installed version is v0.15 or below (any version from initial release through v0.15)
  3. Determine if deserialization of external data occurs
    Search code for calls to cista::deserialize, cista::raw::pointer, cista::raw::offset_ptr, or similar deserialization functions receiving data from network inputs, file uploads, or untrusted sources
    Affected if Your application deserializes data originating from untrusted or external sources using Cista
  4. Check if deserialized values are exposed or observable
    Inspect whether deserialized pointers, addresses, or serialized data contents are logged, returned to users, rendered in UI, or accessible via debugging interfaces
    Affected if Deserialized values (especially pointer-like objects) can be observed by attackers, enabling ASLR bypass

You are affected if your environment uses Cista v0.15 or below and deserializes untrusted data while exposing deserialized values (particularly pointer addresses) to observable channels.

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

Avoid deserializing untrusted data with Cista; upgrade to patched version when available; implement input validation and authenticated encryption for serialized data from untrusted sources.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
30.0 hours of engineering $5,280
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Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2025-60887 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
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