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CVE-2023-38545

9.8 · CRITICAL

This flaw makes curl overflow a heap based buffer in the SOCKS5 proxy handshake.

Published Oct 18, 2023CWE-787EPSS 78.48%

Overview

CVE-2023-38545 is a critical-severity vulnerability. It was published on October 18, 2023 and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.8 (CRITICAL).

This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.8, rated CRITICAL. It can be exploited remotely over the network. No authentication or special privileges are required for exploitation.

Technical description

This flaw makes curl overflow a heap based buffer in the SOCKS5 proxy

handshake.

When curl is asked to pass along the host name to the SOCKS5 proxy to allow

that to resolve the address instead of it getting done by curl itself, the

maximum length that host name can be is 255 bytes.

If the host name is detected to be longer, curl switches to local name

resolving and instead passes on the resolved address only. Due to this bug,

the local variable that means "let the host resolve the name" could get the

wrong value during a slow SOCKS5 handshake, and contrary to the intention,

copy the too long host name to the target buffer instead of copying just the

resolved address there.

The target buffer being a heap based buffer, and the host name coming from the

URL that curl has been told to operate with.

Remediation

Check the references section for vendor advisories, patches, and mitigation guidance. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.

References

Refseclists.org/fulldisclosure/2024/Jan/34Refseclists.org/fulldisclosure/2024/Jan/37Refseclists.org/fulldisclosure/2024/Jan/38Refcurl.se/docs/CVE-2023-38545.htmlRefforum.vmssoftware.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=8868Reflists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/OGMXNRNSJ4ETDK6FRNU3J7SABXPWCHSQ/Refsecurity.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20231027-0009/Refsecurity.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20240201-0005/Refsupport.apple.com/kb/HT214036Refsupport.apple.com/kb/HT214057

How CyberStrike helps

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2023-38545?

CVE-2023-38545 is a critical-severity vulnerability. It was published on October 18, 2023 and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.8 (CRITICAL).

How severe is CVE-2023-38545?

This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.8, rated CRITICAL. It can be exploited remotely over the network. No authentication or special privileges are required for exploitation.

How do I fix or remediate CVE-2023-38545?

Check the references section for vendor advisories, patches, and mitigation guidance. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.

How can CyberStrike help with CVE-2023-38545?

CyberStrike is an open-source, AI-augmented pentesting engine. Rather than flag a version number, it tests whether an issue like CVE-2023-38545 is actually reachable in your own applications and APIs, then verifies each finding before reporting it. That tells you if the weakness is a real, exploitable risk in your environment or a false positive you can safely deprioritize.

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