# CVE-2025-69720: Memory corruption in ncurses

> A stack-based buffer overflow in the infocmp tool allows attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause denial of service.

- **Severity:** High 7.3 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:L`)
- **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:** Yes
- **Published:** 19 Mar 2026
- **Updated:** 2 Jun 2026
- **Also known as:** ALSA-2026:5913, AZL-80469, BELL-CVE-2025-69720, CLSA-2026-1776163577, CLSA-2026-1777445825, CLSA-2026-1777480556, CLSA-2026-1787663865, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-69720, ECHO-01c4-4a1e-f949, GHSA-9952-mrqj-h4jh, JLSEC-2026-1242, OESA-2026-1807, OESA-2026-1808, OESA-2026-1809, OESA-2026-1904, OESA-2026-1905, OESA-2026-1906, RHSA-2026:26357, RHSA-2026:5913, RHSA-2026:7263, RLSA-2026:5913, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2025-69720, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-69720, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2025-69720, SUSE-SU-2026:1499-1, SUSE-SU-2026:1510-1, SUSE-SU-2026:21247-1, SUSE-SU-2026:21261-1, SUSE-SU-2026:22228-1, SUSE-SU-2026:22294-1, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-69720, USN-8503-1, openSUSE-SU-2026:20992-1

## What is CVE-2025-69720?

CVE-2025-69720 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in GNU ncurses, published on 19 Mar 2026. 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

The infocmp command-line tool in ncurses before 6.5-20251213 has a stack-based buffer overflow in analyze_string in progs/infocmp.c.

Weakness: CWE-120 (Buffer Copy without Checking Size of Input), CWE-121 (Stack-based Buffer Overflow)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-69720?

It affects 1 product.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `ncurses-base` | AlmaLinux:10 | All versions | 6.4-15.20240127.el10_1 |
| `ncurses-term` | AlmaLinux:10 | All versions | 6.4-15.20240127.el10_1 |
| `ncurses` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.1 | All versions | 0:6.4-15.20240127.el10_1 |
| `ncurses-base` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.1 | All versions | 0:6.4-15.20240127.el10_1 |
| `ncurses-c++-libs` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.1 | All versions | 0:6.4-15.20240127.el10_1 |
| `ncurses-c++-libs-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.1 | All versions | 0:6.4-15.20240127.el10_1 |
| `ncurses-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.1 | All versions | 0:6.4-15.20240127.el10_1 |
| `ncurses-debugsource` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.1 | All versions | 0:6.4-15.20240127.el10_1 |
| `ncurses-devel` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.1 | All versions | 0:6.4-15.20240127.el10_1 |
| `ncurses-libs` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.1 | All versions | 0:6.4-15.20240127.el10_1 |
| `ncurses-libs-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.1 | All versions | 0:6.4-15.20240127.el10_1 |
| `ncurses-term` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.1 | All versions | 0:6.4-15.20240127.el10_1 |
| `ncurses` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux_eus:10.0 | All versions | 0:6.4-14.20240127.el10_0.1 |
| `ncurses-base` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux_eus:10.0 | All versions | 0:6.4-14.20240127.el10_0.1 |
| `ncurses-c++-libs` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux_eus:10.0 | All versions | 0:6.4-14.20240127.el10_0.1 |
| `ncurses-c++-libs-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux_eus:10.0 | All versions | 0:6.4-14.20240127.el10_0.1 |
| `ncurses-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux_eus:10.0 | All versions | 0:6.4-14.20240127.el10_0.1 |
| `ncurses-debugsource` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux_eus:10.0 | All versions | 0:6.4-14.20240127.el10_0.1 |
| `ncurses-devel` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux_eus:10.0 | All versions | 0:6.4-14.20240127.el10_0.1 |
| `ncurses-libs` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux_eus:10.0 | All versions | 0:6.4-14.20240127.el10_0.1 |
| `ncurses-libs-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux_eus:10.0 | All versions | 0:6.4-14.20240127.el10_0.1 |
| `ncurses-term` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux_eus:10.0 | All versions | 0:6.4-14.20240127.el10_0.1 |
| `ncurses` | Red Hat:hummingbird:1 | All versions | 0:6.6-1.1.hum1 |
| `ncurses-base` | Red Hat:hummingbird:1 | All versions | 0:6.6-1.1.hum1 |
| `ncurses-c++-libs` | Red Hat:hummingbird:1 | All versions | 0:6.6-1.1.hum1 |
| `ncurses-compat-libs` | Red Hat:hummingbird:1 | All versions | 0:6.6-1.1.hum1 |
| `ncurses-devel` | Red Hat:hummingbird:1 | All versions | 0:6.6-1.1.hum1 |
| `ncurses-libs` | Red Hat:hummingbird:1 | All versions | 0:6.6-1.1.hum1 |
| `ncurses-static` | Red Hat:hummingbird:1 | All versions | 0:6.6-1.1.hum1 |
| `ncurses-term` | Red Hat:hummingbird:1 | All versions | 0:6.6-1.1.hum1 |
| `ncurses` | Rocky Linux:10 | All versions | 0:6.4-15.20240127.el10_1 |
| `ncurses` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.2 | All versions | 6.1-150000.5.33.1 |
| `ncurses` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.3 | All versions | 6.1-150000.5.33.1 |
| `ncurses` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.4 | All versions | 6.1-150000.5.33.1 |
| `ncurses` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.5 | All versions | 6.1-150000.5.33.1 |
| `ncurses` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP7 | All versions | 6.1-150000.5.33.1 |
| `ncurses` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Development Tools 15 SP7 | All versions | 6.1-150000.5.33.1 |
| `ncurses` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Legacy 15 SP7 | All versions | 6.1-150000.5.33.1 |
| `ncurses` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 16.0 | All versions | 6.5.20250531-160000.3.1 |
| `ncurses` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server LTSS Extended Security 12 SP5 | All versions | 5.9-91.1 |

Products: Invisible-Island Ncurses.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-69720?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2025-69720 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2025-69720 exists.

Public exploit code:

- Advisory for CVE-2025-69720: stack-based buffer overflow in GNU ncurses infocmp (CWE-121) (github_poc): https://github.com/Cao-Wuhui/CVE-2025-69720

## Other vulnerabilities in GNU ncurses

- [CVE-2017-10684](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-10684/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2017-10685](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-10685/): Code injection in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2023-29491](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-29491/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2017-16879](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-16879/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2017-13728](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-13728/): Denial of service in n/a (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-69720 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-69720 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in GNU ncurses, published on 19 Mar 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2025-69720 exists.

Affected product: GNU ncurses. 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-2025-69720/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-69720/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-69720
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-69720
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-69720

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-69720/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.