CVE-2023-23626 Explained : Impact and Mitigation

This CVE-2023-23626 involves a denial of service vulnerability that occurs when feeding malformed size arguments in go-bitfield.

Understanding CVE-2023-23626

This vulnerability has a base score of 5.9, classified as having a medium severity. It stems from improper checks for unusual or exceptional conditions according to CWE-754.

What is CVE-2023-23626?

The go-bitfield is a simple bitfield package for the Go language designed to be more performant that the standard library. In this vulnerability, when untrusted user input is provided into the size parameter of the

NewBitfield

and

FromBytes

functions, it can lead to triggering panics. Specifically, this occurs when the size is not a multiple of 8 or is negative. Although there was a note in the

NewBitfield

documentation about this issue, it still affects known users of this package. The recommended action for users is to upgrade. If an immediate upgrade is not feasible, users should make sure that the size is a multiple of 8 before calling either

NewBitfield

or

FromBytes

.

The Impact of CVE-2023-23626

The impact of this vulnerability is classified as medium, with the availability being the primary area affected. It can lead to denial of service instances when the vulnerable functions are provided with malicious inputs.

Technical Details of CVE-2023-23626

This vulnerability's CVSS v3.1 score details the attack vector as network-based and the attack complexity as high. The base severity score is 5.9, indicating a medium risk vulnerability.

Vulnerability Description

The vulnerability in go-bitfield arises from improper input validation, triggering panics when specific conditions are met, compromising the availability of the affected functions.

Affected Systems and Versions

The vulnerability affects the 'ipfs go-bitfield' package version less than 1.1.0, making users of this specific package version susceptible to the denial of service issue.

Exploitation Mechanism

The exploitation of this vulnerability involves manipulating the size parameter of the

NewBitfield

and

FromBytes

functions with untrusted inputs, causing panics and resultant denial of service incidents.

Mitigation and Prevention

To address CVE-2023-23626 and mitigate its risks, users are advised to take immediate steps and adopt long-term security practices to enhance the overall protection of their systems.

Immediate Steps to Take

Users should upgrade to a version of 'ipfs go-bitfield' that is 1.1.0 or above to mitigate the vulnerability effectively. Additionally, careful validation of input data before using the vulnerable functions is crucial.

Long-Term Security Practices

Implementing strict input validation mechanisms, staying informed about security advisories, and regularly updating software packages are essential long-term security practices to prevent similar vulnerabilities from being exploited.

Patching and Updates

Regularly monitoring for security patches and updates for the affected software components is crucial. Promptly applying patches and staying up to date with the latest releases can help in strengthening the security posture against known vulnerabilities like CVE-2023-23626.