CVE-2025-8301: realtek rtl8811au Heap-based Buffer Overflow

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2025-8301 is a high (CVSS 7.8) Heap-based Buffer Overflow vulnerability in realtek rtl8811au. EPSS estimates a 0.15% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 3.9% of scored vulnerabilities.

Timeline

1. 02-09-2025
   PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
2. 03-09-2025
   Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

Realtek RTL8811AU rtwlanu.sys N6CSet_DOT11_CIPHER_DEFAULT_KEY Heap-based Buffer Overflow Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability. This vulnerability allows local attackers to escalate privileges on affected installations of Realtek RTL8811AU drivers. An attacker must first obtain the ability to execute low-privileged code on the target system in order to exploit this vulnerability. The specific flaw exists within the N6CSet_DOT11_CIPHER_DEFAULT_KEY function. The issue results from the lack of proper validation of the length of user-supplied data prior to copying it to a fixed-length heap-based buffer. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to escalate privileges and execute arbitrary code in the context of SYSTEM. Was ZDI-CAN-24786.

• CWE-122Heap-based Buffer OverflowA heap overflow condition is a buffer overflow, where the buffer that can be overwritten is allocated in the heap portion of memory, generally meaning that the buffer was allocated using a routine such as malloc().