CVE-2023-45681 – CVE-2023-45681 is a heap buffer overflow vulner... (How to Fix)

Q: What is the severity of CVE-2023-45681?

CVE-2023-45681 has a CVSS score of 7.3 (HIGH). CVE-2023-45681 is a heap buffer overflow vulnerability in the stb_vorbis library that processes Ogg Vorbis audio files. An attacker can craft a malicious audio file to trigger memory corruption, potentially leading to remote code execution. Any application using vulnerable versions of stb_vorbis to process untrusted audio files is affected.

📋 TL;DR

CVE-2023-45681 is a heap buffer overflow vulnerability in the stb_vorbis library that processes Ogg Vorbis audio files. An attacker can craft a malicious audio file to trigger memory corruption, potentially leading to remote code execution. Any application using vulnerable versions of stb_vorbis to process untrusted audio files is affected.

💻 Affected Systems

Products:

stb_vorbis library
Applications embedding stb_vorbis

Versions: All versions before the fix commit 5736b15f7ea0ffb08dd38af21067c314d6a3aae9

Operating Systems: All platforms (cross-platform library)

Default Config Vulnerable: ⚠️ Yes

Notes: Only affects applications that use stb_vorbis to parse Ogg Vorbis files. The vulnerability is in the library itself, not specific applications.

📦 What is this software?

Stb Vorbis.c by Nothings

View all CVEs affecting Stb Vorbis.c →

⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact

🔴

Worst Case

Remote code execution with the privileges of the application processing the audio file, potentially leading to full system compromise.

🟠

Likely Case

Application crash (denial of service) or limited memory corruption leading to unstable behavior.

🟢

If Mitigated

No impact if the application doesn't process untrusted Ogg Vorbis files or has proper sandboxing/isolation.

🌐 Internet-Facing: MEDIUM - Risk exists if applications process user-uploaded audio files, but requires specific file format targeting.

🏢 Internal Only: LOW - Typically requires user interaction to open malicious files, though automated processing systems could be vulnerable.

🎯 Exploit Status

Public PoC: ✅ No

Weaponized: UNKNOWN

Unauthenticated Exploit: ⚠️ Yes

Complexity: MEDIUM

Exploitation requires crafting a malicious Ogg Vorbis file and getting it processed by vulnerable software. The integer overflow makes exploitation more reliable.

🛠️ Fix & Mitigation

✅ Official Fix

Patch Version: Commit 5736b15f7ea0ffb08dd38af21067c314d6a3aae9 or later

Vendor Advisory: https://github.com/nothings/stb/commit/5736b15f7ea0ffb08dd38af21067c314d6a3aae9

Restart Required: Yes

Instructions:

1. Update stb_vorbis.c to commit 5736b15f7ea0ffb08dd38af21067c314d6a3aae9 or later. 2. Recompile all applications using the library. 3. Restart affected services.

🔧 Temporary Workarounds

Disable Ogg Vorbis processing

all

Temporarily disable processing of Ogg Vorbis files in applications using stb_vorbis.

Input validation

all

Implement strict file type validation and size limits for uploaded audio files.

🧯 If You Can't Patch

Isolate applications that process audio files in sandboxed environments with minimal privileges.
Implement application allowlisting to prevent execution of unauthorized binaries if code execution occurs.

🔍 How to Verify

Check if Vulnerable:

Check if stb_vorbis.c includes the vulnerable code at lines 3660-3677 with integer overflow in sizeof(char*) * (f->comment_list_length).

Check Version:

Check git commit hash or compare stb_vorbis.c against the fixed version.

Verify Fix Applied:

Verify the stb_vorbis.c file includes commit 5736b15f7ea0ffb08dd38af21067c314d6a3aae9 changes that fix the integer overflow.

📡 Detection & Monitoring

Log Indicators:

Application crashes when processing audio files
Memory access violation errors
Unexpected process termination

Network Indicators:

Uploads of Ogg Vorbis files to web applications
Network transfers of audio files to processing services

SIEM Query:

Process termination events for applications known to use stb_vorbis OR file upload events with .ogg extension

📊 Metadata

CVE ID: CVE-2023-45681

CVSS v3 Score: 7.3 (HIGH)

CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L

CWE: CWE-787

Published: October 21, 2023

Last Updated: November 21, 2024

🔗 References

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