CVE-2025-8088
A path traversal vulnerability affecting the Windows version of WinRAR allows the attackers to execute arbitrary code by crafting malicious archive files. This vulnerability was exploited in the wild and was discovered by Anton Cherepanov, Peter Košinár, and Peter Strýček from ESET.
do firstApply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
Can a WAF block it? No. The vulnerability involves malicious archive files that must be opened locally by the user in WinRAR, so the attack requires local interaction and cannot be delivered via web requests. A web application firewall only sees HTTP traffic, so it is not on this attack's path.
Also consider: patch
Based on an AI reading of the CVE description, and no vendor rule found yet. We check Cloudflare, AWS, Google Cloud Armor and Azure; for Akamai, Imperva, Fastly, F5, ask your vendor.
Is CVE-2025-8088 being exploited?
Yes. CVE-2025-8088 appears in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, which means exploitation in the wild has been confirmed and reported. Treat it as active rather than theoretical, and patch it ahead of higher-scoring vulnerabilities that carry no exploitation evidence.
How severe is CVE-2025-8088?
CVE-2025-8088 is rated High with a CVSS score of 8.8. Severity describes how bad exploitation would be, not how likely it is: pair it with exploitation evidence before deciding what to patch first.
Is there a patch for CVE-2025-8088?
Yes. A fix has been recorded for CVE-2025-8088. The vendor advisory is the authority on the exact fixed version — apply it from there rather than from a summary.
What does CVE-2025-8088 affect?
CVE-2025-8088 affects rarlab:winrar, dtsearch:dtsearch. Confirm the exact affected versions against the vendor advisory before deciding you are exposed.
Exploitation status reflects CISA's KEV catalog as we last synced it. Check the catalog directly.
- affected<= 7.12
As published in the CVE Program record. A version outside these ranges is not a statement that it is unaffected — vendors sometimes understate a range, and distribution-backported builds carry upstream numbers that do not reflect what was patched into them.
public exploits
Unvetted proof-of-concept code on GitHub: 30 GitHub proofs of concept
- sxyrxyy/CVE-2025-8088-WinRAR-Proof-of-Concept-PoC-Exploit- · 72 ★
- onlytoxi/CVE-2025-8088-Winrar-Tool · 55 ★
- hexsecteam/CVE-2025-8088-Winrar-Tool · 50 ★
- knight0x07/WinRAR-CVE-2025-8088-PoC-RAR · 44 ★
Listed so you can judge urgency, not as a recommendation to run anything. GitHub “proofs of concept” are unvetted: some are fake or carry malware. Exploit-DB marks the entries its staff verified.
cisa ssvc
- exploitation
- active
- automatable
- no
- technical impact
- total
Assessed by CISA 11 Aug 2025 (SSVC 2.0.3).
timeline
- 8 Aug 2025Published
- 10 Aug 2025First proof-of-concept repository on GitHub (unvetted) · 1 day later
- 11 Aug 2025CISA SSVC assessment: exploitation active · 1 day later
- 12 Aug 2025Added to CISA KEV (exploited in the wild) · 1 day later
- 2 Sept 2025CISA remediation due date (US federal agencies) · 21 days later
- 11 Aug 2026CVE record last updated · 343 days (about 11 months) later
- 2 Nov 2026Analysed by vulneraibility.com · 84 days (about 3 months) later
- Linkwin-rar.com /singlenewsview.html?&L=0&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=283&cHash=a64b4a8f662d3639dec8d
- Linkwelivesecurity.com /en/eset-research/update-winrar-tools-now-romcom-and-others-exploiting-zero-day-
- Linkcisa.gov /known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2025-8088
- Linkvicarius.io /vsociety/posts/cve-2025-8088-detect-winrar-zero-day
- Linkvicarius.io /vsociety/posts/cve-2025-8088-mitigate-winrar-zero-day-using-srp-and-ifeo
- Linksupport.dtsearch.com /faq/dts0245.htm
- Linkarstechnica.com /security/2025/08/high-severity-winrar-0-day-exploited-for-weeks-by-2-groups/
sources
- CVE List (CVE.org): description, affected versions, references; CVE Terms of Use
- NVD: CVSS and CPE data
- CISA KEV catalog: exploitation, date added, due date
- CISA Vulnrichment (ADP): SSVC decision points
- FIRST EPSS: exploit probability and percentile
- PoC-in-GitHub: GitHub repositories that claim a proof of concept
- Summary, impact and triage tags: written by our AI analysis pipeline from the sources above. Check them against the sources.