Vulnerability · Published Dec 21, 2023 · Assigned by redhat

CVE-2023-4255W3m: out-of-bounds write in function checktype() in etc.c (incomplete fix for cve-2022-38223)

Medium 5.5

In plain English

A medium-severity out-of-bounds write in Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux from Fedora. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.3% (higher than 25% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.

Severity (CVSS 3.1)5.5Medium
Exploit odds (30 days)0.3%top 74.7% of all CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo reportsnot in CISA KEV
Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official description

An out-of-bounds write issue has been discovered in the backspace handling of the checkType() function in etc.c within the W3M application. This vulnerability is triggered by supplying a specially crafted HTML file to the w3m binary. Exploitation of this flaw could lead to application crashes, resulting in a denial of service condition.

Affected packages & fixed versions

EcosystemPackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian:12w3mno fix listedDEBIAN-CVE-2023-4255
Debian:13w3m0.5.3+git20230121-2.1DEBIAN-CVE-2023-4255
Debian:14w3m0.5.3+git20230121-2.1DEBIAN-CVE-2023-4255
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSw3m0.5.3+git20210102-6ubuntu0.2USN-6580-1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSw3m0.5.3+git20210102-6ubuntu0.2UBUNTU-CVE-2023-4255
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSw3m0.5.3+git20230121-2ubuntu1UBUNTU-CVE-2023-4255

Affected products (as reported)

VendorProductVersions
n/a w3m see references
Fedora Fedora see references
Fedora Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux see references

Weakness: CWE-787 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

References