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TI-2023-14839 Aliases CVE-2023-31129

Contiki-NG missing NULL pointer check in IPv6 neighbor discovery

Priority MEDIUM 49CWE-476Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Network
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
Low
Impact type
Denial of service
Confidentiality · integrity · availability
High · High · High
Fix status
No fix listed

Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · NVD. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-476.

Summary

The Contiki-NG operating system versions 4.8 and prior can be triggered to dereference a NULL pointer in the message handling code for IPv6 router solicitiations. Contiki-NG contains an implementation of IPv6 Neighbor Discovery (ND) in the module `os/net/ipv6/uip-nd6.c`. The ND protocol includes a message type called Router Solicitation (RS), which is used to locate routers and update their address information via the SLLAO (Source Link-Layer Address Option). If the indicated source address changes, a given neighbor entry is set to the STALE state. The message handler does not check for RS messages with an SLLAO that indicates a link-layer address change that a neighbor entry can actually be created for the indicated address. The resulting pointer is used without a check, leading to the dereference of a NULL pointer of type `uip_ds6_nbr_t`. The problem has been patched in the `develop` branch of Contiki-NG, and will be included in the upcoming 4.9 release. As a workaround, users can apply Contiki-NG pull request #2271 to patch the problem directly.

Why it matters now

Exploitation None reported CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.00644 51st percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix No fix listed No fixed version in the sources yet

SSVC decision points

CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3

Exploitation
None
Automatable
Yes
Technical impact
Partial

The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.

Affected products

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
contiki-ngcontiki-ngup to 4.8—No fix listedCNA
  • contiki-ng Vendorcontiki-ng Affected up to 4.8 Fixed in — No fix listed CNA

CPE configurations NVD · 1

CPEVersionsRoleVendor
cpe:2.3:o:contiki-ng:contiki-ng:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*up to 4.8Vulnerablecontiki-ng
  • cpe:2.3:o:contiki-ng:contiki-ng:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions up to 4.8 Vulnerable ·contiki-ng

Remediation

No fixed version listed by the sources yet.

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2023-31129
  2. 2026-10-21 EPSS moved to the 50th–90th percentile

References

  • TI-2020-14885 An issue was discovered in Contiki through 3.0 and Contiki-NG through 4.5. CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
  • TI-2020-16751 In Contiki 4.5, TCP ISNs are improperly random. CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.1
  • TI-2018-16029 contiki-ng version 4 contains a Buffer Overflow vulnerability in AQL (Antelope Query… CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
  • TI-2018-13749 An issue was discovered in the MQTT server in Contiki-NG before 4.2. CVSS 3.0CRITICAL 10.0
  • TI-2023-14381 Contiki-NG has off-by-one error in Antelope DBMS CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
  • TI-2022-16354 Unverified DIO prefix info lengths in RPL-Classic in Contiki-NG CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
See all 41 →

Sources

This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences