CVE-2024-46613
📋 TL;DR
CVE-2024-46613 is an integer overflow vulnerability in WeeChat's string handling functions that leads to buffer overflow when processing lists with over 2 billion items. This allows remote code execution or denial of service attacks. All WeeChat users running versions before 4.4.2 are affected.
💻 Affected Systems
- WeeChat
📦 What is this software?
Weechat by Weechat
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Remote attacker gains arbitrary code execution on the WeeChat client, potentially compromising the user's system and accessing sensitive data like passwords and chat logs.
Likely Case
Remote code execution leading to client compromise, credential theft, and lateral movement within the user's environment.
If Mitigated
Denial of service causing WeeChat to crash, but no code execution if exploit fails or protections are in place.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires sending specially crafted messages to trigger the overflow. No public exploit code is available yet.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 4.4.2
Vendor Advisory: https://weechat.org/doc/weechat/security/WSA-2024-1/
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Download WeeChat 4.4.2 from weechat.org/download 2. Stop WeeChat 3. Install the new version 4. Restart WeeChat
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable external connections
allTemporarily disconnect from all chat servers to prevent malicious messages
/disconnect all
Use read-only mode
allConnect to servers in read-only mode to prevent processing of malicious messages
/set irc.server_default.autoconnect off
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Isolate WeeChat to a dedicated VM or container to limit potential damage
- Use network segmentation to restrict WeeChat's network access to trusted servers only
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check WeeChat version with /version command. If version is below 4.4.2, you are vulnerable.Check Version:
/versionVerify Fix Applied:
After updating, run /version and confirm version is 4.4.2 or higher.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- WeeChat crash logs
- Segmentation fault errors in system logs
- Abnormal memory usage patterns
Network Indicators:
- Unusual large list/message traffic to WeeChat clients
- IRC servers sending malformed list data
SIEM Query:
process.name:"weechat" AND (event.action:"segmentation_fault" OR event.outcome:"failure")