# CVE-2025-4638: Improper Pointer Arithmetic in pcl

> Improper pointer arithmetic in bundled zlib may cause undefined behavior, requiring system zlib usage or upgrade to mitigate.

- **Severity:** Critical 9.2 (`CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:L/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:L/SA:H/AU:Y/R:U/V:D/RE:M/U:Amber`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 14 May 2025
- **Updated:** 15 May 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-hg9g-m8wg-jv2x, MGASA-2025-0162, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-4638

## What is CVE-2025-4638?

CVE-2025-4638 is a critical memory corruption vulnerability in PointCloudLibrary pcl, published on 14 May 2025. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability exists in the inftrees.c component of the zlib library, which is bundled within the PointCloudLibrary (PCL). This issue may allow context-dependent attackers to cause undefined behavior by exploiting improper pointer arithmetic.

Since version 1.14.0, PCL by default uses a zlib installation from the system, unless the user sets WITH_SYSTEM_ZLIB=FALSE. So this potential vulnerability is only relevant if the PCL version is older than 1.14.0 or the user specifically requests to not use the system zlib.

Weakness: CWE-119 (Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-4638?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Pointclouds Point Cloud Library.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-4638?

Change a configuration setting.

## Is CVE-2025-4638 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-4638 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-4638 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-4638 is a critical memory corruption vulnerability in PointCloudLibrary pcl, published on 14 May 2025. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-4638 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: PointCloudLibrary pcl. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-4638/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-4638/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-4638
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-4638
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-4638

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-4638/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.