ZDI-CAN-28563: New Vulnerability Report

Zero Day Initiative — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 15:55:21 -0000

ZDI-CAN-28563: FontForge SFD File Parsing Improper Validation of Array Index Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

-- CVSS -----------------------------------------

8.8: AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

-- ABSTRACT -------------------------------------

Trend Micro's Zero Day Initiative has identified a vulnerability affecting the following products:
FontForge - FontForge

-- VULNERABILITY DETAILS ------------------------
* Version tested:aca4f524c6cb14cdc7bc4cd493492a33f5154797
* Platform tested:ubuntu 24.04

Analysis

array index OOB access vulnerability exists within the FontForge's SFD_GetFontMetaData() function.
The corruption will be triggered when victim open the malicious sfd file with the fontforge application.

bool SFD_GetFontMetaData( FILE *sfd,
                          char *tok,
                          SplineFont *sf,
                          SFD_GetFontMetaDataData* d )
{
...
        kc->firsts = calloc(kc->first_cnt,sizeof(char *));                              // buffer
        kc->seconds = calloc(kc->second_cnt,sizeof(char *));
        kc->offsets = calloc(kc->first_cnt*kc->second_cnt,sizeof(int16_t));
        kc->adjusts = calloc(kc->first_cnt*kc->second_cnt,sizeof(DeviceTable));
        if (kernclassversion >= 3) {
          kc->firsts_flags = calloc(kc->first_cnt, sizeof(int));
          kc->seconds_flags = calloc(kc->second_cnt, sizeof(int));
          kc->offsets_flags = calloc(kc->first_cnt*kc->second_cnt, sizeof(int));
          kc->firsts_names = calloc(kc->first_cnt, sizeof(char*));
          kc->seconds_names = calloc(kc->second_cnt, sizeof(char*));
        }
        for ( i=classstart; i<kc->first_cnt; ++i ) {
          if (kernclassversion < 3) {
            getint(sfd,&temp);                                                          // input
            kc->firsts[i] = malloc(temp+1); kc->firsts[i][temp] = '\0';                 // array index OOB write
            nlgetc(sfd);        /* skip space */
            fread(kc->firsts[i],1,temp,sfd);
          } else {
            getint(sfd,&kc->firsts_flags[i]);
            while ((ch=nlgetc(sfd)) == ' '); ungetc(ch, sfd); if (ch == '\n' || ch == EOF) continue;
            kc->firsts_names[i] = SFDReadUTF7Str(sfd);
            while ((ch=nlgetc(sfd)) == ' '); ungetc(ch, sfd); if (ch == '\n' || ch == EOF) continue;
            kc->firsts[i] = SFDReadUTF7Str(sfd);
            if (kc->firsts[i] == NULL) kc->firsts[i] = copy(""); // In certain places, this must be defined.
            while ((ch=nlgetc(sfd)) == ' ' || ch == '\n'); ungetc(ch, sfd);
          }
        }
...

ASAN report

=================================================================
==13734==ERROR: AddressSanitizer: heap-buffer-overflow on address 0x50200012a8cf at pc 0x725819ad049d bp 0x7ffe89c724b0 sp 0x7ffe89c724a0
WRITE of size 1 at 0x50200012a8cf thread T0
    #0 0x725819ad049c in SFD_GetFontMetaData /home/wmliang/fontforge/fontforge/sfd.c:8268
    #1 0x725819ad4234 in SFD_GetFont /home/wmliang/fontforge/fontforge/sfd.c:8497
    #2 0x725819ada408 in SFD_Read /home/wmliang/fontforge/fontforge/sfd.c:9078
    #3 0x725819b2d525 in _ReadSplineFont /home/wmliang/fontforge/fontforge/splinefont.c:1226
    #4 0x725819b2ddf0 in LoadSplineFont /home/wmliang/fontforge/fontforge/splinefont.c:1420
    #5 0x72581978756f in ViewPostScriptFont /home/wmliang/fontforge/fontforge/fontviewbase.c:1386
    #6 0x5daf4be81c9f in fontforge_main /home/wmliang/fontforge/fontforgeexe/startui.c:992
    #7 0x725816c2a1c9 in __libc_start_call_main ../sysdeps/nptl/libc_start_call_main.h:58
    #8 0x725816c2a28a in __libc_start_main_impl ../csu/libc-start.c:360
    #9 0x5daf4b9d3054 in _start (/home/wmliang/fontforge/build/bin/fontforge+0x180054) (BuildId: 45c09de68bbe576c3dd1339975fca7d8df397ad1)

0x50200012a8cf is located 1 bytes before 1-byte region [0x50200012a8d0,0x50200012a8d1)
allocated by thread T0 here:
    #0 0x72581a4fd9c7 in malloc ../../../../src/libsanitizer/asan/asan_malloc_linux.cpp:69
    #1 0x725819ad0259 in SFD_GetFontMetaData /home/wmliang/fontforge/fontforge/sfd.c:8268

SUMMARY: AddressSanitizer: heap-buffer-overflow /home/wmliang/fontforge/fontforge/sfd.c:8268 in SFD_GetFontMetaData
Shadow bytes around the buggy address:
  0x50200012a600: fa fa 05 fa fa fa 00 02 fa fa 00 02 fa fa 07 fa
  0x50200012a680: fa fa 02 fa fa fa 02 fa fa fa 01 fa fa fa 04 fa
  0x50200012a700: fa fa 02 fa fa fa 01 fa fa fa 01 fa fa fa 01 fa
  0x50200012a780: fa fa 01 fa fa fa 01 fa fa fa 01 fa fa fa 01 fa
  0x50200012a800: fa fa 01 fa fa fa 01 fa fa fa 05 fa fa fa 01 fa
=>0x50200012a880: fa fa 02 fa fa fa 01 fa fa[fa]01 fa fa fa fa fa
  0x50200012a900: fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa
  0x50200012a980: fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa
  0x50200012aa00: fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa
  0x50200012aa80: fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa
  0x50200012ab00: fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa
Shadow byte legend (one shadow byte represents 8 application bytes):
  Addressable:           00
  Partially addressable: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07
  Heap left redzone:       fa
  Freed heap region:       fd
  Stack left redzone:      f1
  Stack mid redzone:       f2
  Stack right redzone:     f3
  Stack after return:      f5
  Stack use after scope:   f8
  Global redzone:          f9
  Global init order:       f6
  Poisoned by user:        f7
  Container overflow:      fc
  Array cookie:            ac
  Intra object redzone:    bb
  ASan internal:           fe
  Left alloca redzone:     ca
  Right alloca redzone:    cb
==13734==ABORTING

-- CREDIT ---------------------------------------
This vulnerability was discovered by:
Anonymous working with Trend Micro Zero Day Initiative

-- FURTHER DETAILS ------------------------------

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Recent changes to 41: ZDI-CAN-28563: New Vulnerability Report

ZDI-CAN-28563: New Vulnerability Report

Analysis