CVE-2025-27498 AEADs/ascon-aead: Plaintext exposed in decrypt_in_place_detached even on tag verification failure
Attackers can recover plaintext from failed AEAD decryption attempts in the RustCrypto AES-GCM library due to improper buffer clearing.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- A user has to click or open something
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2025-27498?
CVE-2025-27498 is a medium-severity vulnerability in RustCrypto AEADs, published on 3 Mar 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Official description
aes-gcm is a pure Rust implementation of the AES-GCM. In decrypt_in_place_detached, the decrypted ciphertext (which is the correct ciphertext) is exposed even if the tag is incorrect. This is because in decrypt_inplace in asconcore.rs, tag verification causes an error to be returned with the plaintext contents still in buffer. The vulnerability is fixed in 0.4.3.
Weakness: CWE-347
Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-27498?
2 open source packages ship an affected version, including ascon_aead.
| Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
ascon_aead crates.io | All versions | 0.4.3 |
ascon_aead crates.io | All versions | 0.4.3 |
How do I fix CVE-2025-27498?
Upgrade ascon_aead to 0.4.3 or later.
Is CVE-2025-27498 being exploited?
It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2025-27498 exists.
Sources
Also known as GHSA-r38m-44fw-h886, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-27498.