CVE Tools

CVE-2023-38545

Published: Oct 18, 2023Updated: May 12, 2026 Sources: CVE List NVD BDU csafCWE-787
9.8CVSSCRITICAL

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.

CVSS Vector Breakdown

AV:NAC:LPR:NUI:NS:UC:HI:HA:H
Exploitability
AV:NAttack Vector
Network
AC:LAttack Complexity
Low
PR:NPrivileges Required
None
UI:NUser Interaction
None
Scope
S:UScope
Unchanged
Impact
C:HConfidentiality
High
I:HIntegrity
High
A:HAvailability
High

Weaknesses

Affected Products

curloss-projectUSOSS Librariesaka libcurl, wcurl
сообщество свободного программного обеспеченияoss-projectOperating Systemsaka сообщество свободного программного обеспечения, fsf
red hat inc.commercialUSOperating Systemsaka red hat
and 21 more affected products View all →

Attack Graph

Products CVE Techniques Tactics

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Exploitability

3 exploit sources identified

Exploit details including PoC links, Metasploit modules, and scanner templates are available after registration.

View exploit details
Official Patch Available

MITRE ATT&CK

2 techniques
Initial Access
Privilege Escalation
View detailed technique mapping

References

and 279 more references View all →

Timeline

Published
Oct 18, 2023
Last Updated
May 12, 2026
1

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