Bloomberg Comdb2 Vulnerability Lets Attackers Initiate DoS Attacks with Malicious Packets

Cisco Talos’ Vulnerability Discovery & Research team has disclosed five significant security vulnerabilities in Bloomberg Comdb2, an open-source high-availability database system widely used in enterprise environments.

The vulnerabilities, all affecting version 8.1 of the database, have been successfully patched by Bloomberg following responsible disclosure practices.

Database Overview and Impact

Bloomberg Comdb2 serves as a robust database solution supporting clustering, transactions, snapshots, and isolation capabilities.

The system employs optimistic locking mechanisms for concurrent operations, making it attractive for high-performance applications requiring reliable data management.

https://blog.talosintelligence.com/bloomberg-comdb2-null-pointer-dereference-and-denial-of-service-vulnerabilities/

However, the recently discovered vulnerabilities could potentially expose organizations to denial-of-service attacks.

Critical Null Pointer Vulnerabilities

Three of the five vulnerabilities involve null pointer dereference issues that attackers can exploit to cause system crashes.

Two particularly concerning vulnerabilities, TALOS-2025-2197 (CVE-2025-36520) and TALOS-2025-2201 (CVE-2025-35966), affect the database’s protocol buffer message handling functionality.

These flaws allow attackers to trigger denial-of-service conditions simply by connecting to a database instance over TCP and transmitting specially crafted messages.

The third null pointer vulnerability, TALOS-2025-2199 (CVE-2025-48498), targets the distributed transaction component.

Attackers can exploit this weakness by sending malicious network packets designed to crash the system, potentially disrupting critical database operations across distributed environments.

Additional Denial-of-Service Threats

Beyond the null pointer issues, researchers identified two additional denial-of-service vulnerabilities.

TALOS-2025-2198 (CVE-2025-46354) affects the Distributed Transaction Commit/Abort Operation, enabling attackers to cause service disruptions through carefully constructed network packets.

The fifth vulnerability, TALOS-2025-2200 (CVE-2025-36512), exploits weaknesses in distributed transaction heartbeat handling.

Like the protocol buffer vulnerabilities, this flaw allows attackers to connect via TCP and send malicious protocol buffer messages to trigger system failures.

Industry Response and Protection

Bloomberg has responded promptly to address all identified vulnerabilities, releasing patches by Cisco’s third-party vulnerability disclosure policy.

This collaborative approach demonstrates the importance of responsible security research in maintaining enterprise software integrity.

Organizations utilizing Comdb2 should immediately update to the latest patched version to protect against potential attacks.

Additionally, Cisco recommends downloading updated Snort rule sets from Snort.org to detect exploitation attempts of these vulnerabilities.

Looking Forward

The discovery underscores the ongoing importance of comprehensive security testing for database systems, particularly those handling distributed transactions and network communications.

As enterprises increasingly rely on high-availability databases for critical operations, continuous vulnerability assessment remains essential for maintaining robust cybersecurity postures.

Detailed vulnerability advisories are available on Talos Intelligence’s website for organizations seeking comprehensive technical information about these security issues.

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