CVE-2025-20260 | ClamAV PDF Scanning Buffer Overflow Vulnerability

A vulnerability in the PDF scanning processes of ClamAV could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a buffer overflow condition, cause a denial of service (DoS) condition, or execute arbitrary code on an affected device. This vulnerability exists because memory buffers are allocated incorrectly when PDF files are processed. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by submitting a crafted PDF file to be scanned by ClamAV on an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to trigger a buffer overflow, likely resulting in the termination of the ClamAV scanning process and a DoS condition on the affected software. Although unproven, there is also a possibility that an attacker could leverage the buffer overflow to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the ClamAV process.

Published: 2025-06-18 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2025-20260 is rated Moderate Risk (64.5/100): CVSS Critical severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.54%). Mandatory action: Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2025-20260

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 1.23% 1.54% +0.30%
2 2026-05-27 1.47% 1.23% -0.24%
3 2026-04-14 1.47%

Full EPSS history (16 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-20260

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
9.8 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
3.9 5.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-20260

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-20260

vendor priority summary link
alpine critical CVE-2025-20260: 1 source package rows (clamav); 11 state rows across 2 repos (3.22-community, edge-community); fixed 2, open 9. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2025-20260
debian not yet assigned CVE-2025-20260 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (clamav), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2025-20260
suse high CVE-2025-20260 severity important: SUSE including 42 source package names (clamav-1.4.3-1.1, clamav-1.4.3-150200.8.14.1, …), 185 product×package rows across 28 product lines (Image SLES12-SP5-SAP-Azure-LI-BYOS-Production, Image SLES12-SP5-SAP-Azure-VLI-BYOS-Production, … (28 product lines)): Fixed 185. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-20260/
ubuntu medium CVE-2025-20260 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (clamav), 10 status rows across 10 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 7, needed 3. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-20260

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-20260

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
clamav clamav < 1.0.9 cpe:2.3:a:clamav:clamav:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
clamav clamav >= 1.2.0, < 1.4.3 cpe:2.3:a:clamav:clamav:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2025-20260

cvelogic Threat Intelligence