CVE-2023-27478 : Security Advisory and Response

This CVE involves the disclosure of unrelated data in libmemcached-awesome, an open-source C/C++ client library and tool for the memcached server. The issue allows

libmemcached

to return data for a previously requested key if the previous request timed out due to a low

POLL_TIMEOUT

. The problem has been addressed in version 1.1.4.

Understanding CVE-2023-27478

This section provides insight into what CVE-2023-27478 entails and its impact on systems.

What is CVE-2023-27478?

The vulnerability in libmemcached-awesome exposes a flaw where data unrelated to the current request could be returned due to a previous request timing out prematurely. This could lead to the exposure of sensitive information to unauthorized actors.

The Impact of CVE-2023-27478

The impact of this vulnerability is rated as medium severity with a CVSS base score of 6.5. While the confidentiality and integrity impacts are low, the exposure of sensitive information to unauthorized entities poses a potential risk to affected systems.

Technical Details of CVE-2023-27478

This section delves into the vulnerability description, affected systems and versions, as well as the exploitation mechanism.

Vulnerability Description

The issue in libmemcached-awesome arises from the mishandling of timeouts, which allows for the exposure of unrelated data during subsequent requests.

Affected Systems and Versions

The vulnerability affects versions of libmemcached-awesome ranging from greater than 1.0.18 and less than 1.1.4.

Exploitation Mechanism

Attackers can exploit this vulnerability by leveraging the timing discrepancies in previous requests to retrieve sensitive information unrelated to the current request.

Mitigation and Prevention

Understanding how to mitigate and prevent CVE-2023-27478 is crucial to enhancing the security posture of systems.

Immediate Steps to Take

Users are advised to upgrade to version 1.1.4 of libmemcached to address this vulnerability promptly. Additionally, implementing best practices can help reduce the likelihood of this bug impacting deployments.

Long-Term Security Practices

Employing security measures such as using reasonably high

POLL_TIMEOUT

settings, utilizing separate libmemcached connections for unrelated data, and avoiding the reuse of connections in an unknown state can help mitigate risks associated with this vulnerability.

Patching and Updates

Regularly monitoring for security updates and promptly applying patches released by libmemcached can help ensure your systems are protected from known vulnerabilities like CVE-2023-27478.