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TI-2023-18911 Aliases CVE-2023-37281

Out-of-bounds read during IPHC address decompression

Priority LOW 30CWE-125Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Network
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
Low
Impact type
Information disclosure
Confidentiality · integrity · availability
Low · None · None
Fix status
No fix listed

Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-125 and the CVSS impact.

Summary

Contiki-NG is an operating system for internet-of-things devices. In versions 4.9 and prior, when processing the various IPv6 header fields during IPHC header decompression, Contiki-NG confirms the received packet buffer contains enough data as needed for that field. But no similar check is done before decompressing the IPv6 address. Therefore, up to 16 bytes can be read out of bounds on the line with the statement `memcpy(&ipaddr->u8[16 - postcount], iphc_ptr, postcount);`. The value of `postcount` depends on the address compression used in the received packet and can be controlled by the attacker. As a result, an attacker can inject a packet that causes an out-of-bound read. As of time of publication, a patched version is not available. As a workaround, one can apply the changes in Contiki-NG pull request #2509 to patch the system.

Why it matters now

Exploitation None reported CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.00462 40th 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 4.9—No fix listedCNA
  • contiki-ng Vendorcontiki-ng Affected up to 4.9 Fixed in — No fix listed CNA

CPE configurations NVD · 1

CPEVersionsRoleVendor
cpe:2.3:o:contiki-ng:contiki-ng:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*up to 4.9Vulnerablecontiki-ng
  • cpe:2.3:o:contiki-ng:contiki-ng:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions up to 4.9 Vulnerable ·contiki-ng

Remediation

No fixed version listed by the sources yet.

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2023-37281

References

Patch 1

Advisory 1

  • 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-2023-14839 Contiki-NG missing NULL pointer check in IPv6 neighbor discovery 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