HighPublic exploit

Arm Trusted Firmware-A Secure State Exposure

IdentifiersCVE-2025-48507CWE-1284· Improper Validation of Specified…

CVE-2025-48507 is a high-severity vulnerability in Arm Trusted Firmware-A (TF-A) caused by the security state of the calling processor not being used when handling calls into TF-A. As described in the provided content, this improper handling can allow a non-secure processor context to reach functionality or resources that should be restricted to the secure world. The resulting exposure could permit non-secure processors to access secure memory regions, invoke or access cryptographic operations, and control SoC subsystems by turning them on or off. The issue is therefore a trust-boundary enforcement failure in TF-A’s handling of caller security context.

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ANALYST BRIEF

Impact, mitigation & remediation

What it means. What to do now. Patch path, mitigations, and the assume-compromise checklist.

Impact

What an attacker gets, and what they’ve been doing with it.

Successful exploitation can undermine secure-world isolation on affected platforms. A non-secure processor may gain unauthorized access to secure memory, use protected cryptographic functionality, and manipulate SoC subsystem power or control state. This can result in compromise of confidentiality, integrity, and availability for secure-world assets and platform control functions, and may enable broader secure-world compromise depending on platform integration and exposed TF-A services.

Mitigation

If you can’t patch tonight, do this now.

Until a full remediation is deployed, harden access controls around TF-A-exposed services and restrict any pathways by which non-secure execution contexts can invoke secure-world functionality. Validate that security-state checks are enforced consistently, disable or limit unnecessary secure monitor interfaces where feasible, and restrict access to crypto and subsystem-control operations to trusted secure-world callers only. Because the CVE is noted as not remotely exploitable, mitigation should focus on reducing local or adjacent attack paths from non-secure processor contexts.

Remediation

Patch, then assume compromise.

Ensure Arm Trusted Firmware-A correctly uses and validates the calling processor’s security state for all relevant entry points and protected operations. Implement and enforce explicit checks preventing non-secure callers from accessing secure memory, cryptographic operations, or subsystem control functions. Apply the vendor guidance referenced in AMD advisory AMD-SB-8017 and update to a fixed firmware/TF-A build once vendor-provided patches or platform-specific updates are available.

PUBLIC EXPLOITS

Exploits

1 valid exploit after Mallory filtered fakes, detection scripts, and README-only repos.

VALID 1 / 1 TOTALView more in app

PoC_CVE-2025-48507MaturityPoCVerified exploit

This repository provides a proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit for CVE-2025-48507 and CVE-2025-0038, targeting AMD Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoCs and related platforms. The exploit demonstrates how a non-secure Linux environment can break TrustZone isolation and gain access to secure memory regions. The attack is performed in two main stages: (1) a kernel module (smc-tt.c) is used to issue arbitrary SMC calls to clear security registers (IOU_AXI_WPRTCN and IOU_AXI_RPRTCN at 0xFF240000), reclassifying the SD Host Controller as a secure master; (2) a modified SDHC driver and a bash script (dma_patch.sh) are used to perform DMA attacks, writing arbitrary payloads to secure memory via a device partition (e.g., /dev/mmcblk0p3). The repository includes hardware debugger scripts for Trace32 to assist in debugging and confirming the attack, as well as documentation and build instructions. The exploit requires root access, the ability to load kernel modules, and a vulnerable hardware/software configuration. No network endpoints are involved; all actions are performed locally on the target device.

jdbonfilsDisclosed Jul 1, 2025cbashlocal

EXPOSURE SURFACE

Affected products & vendors

Products and vendors Mallory has correlated with this vulnerability. Open in Mallory to drill down to specific CPE configurations and version ranges.

VendorProductType

ArmTrusted Firmware-Aoperating_system

ArmTrusted Firmware-A (Tf-A)application

Vendor-confirmed product mapping. Mallory continuously reconciles this list against your asset inventory.

ACTIVITY FEED

Recent activity

6 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.

6 SOURCESView more in app

cvefeed high severityNews

Nov 23, 2025

CVE-2025-48507 - Arm Trusted Firmware (TF-A) Secure State Exposure

A high-severity Arm Trusted Firmware (TF-A) vulnerability where the processor security state is not properly used/validated, potentially enabling non-secure processors to access secure memory, invoke crypto operations, and control SoC subsystems.

What this page doesn’t show

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Exposure mapping

Query your assets running an affected version, and investigate the blast radius.

Threat actor evidence

Every observed campaign linking this CVE to a named adversary.

Associated malware

Malware families riding this exploit, with evidence and IOCs.

Detection signatures

YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.

Vendor-by-vendor mapping

Cross-references every affected SKU, including bundled OEM variants.

Social activity5