THREATPORT/VULNERABILITY/CVE-2023-38546
LOW SEVERITY

CVE-2023-38546

Libcurl vulnerability

CVSS
3.7
EPSS
6.2%
EPSS pct
93th
Exploited
No known
This flaw allows an attacker to insert cookies at will into a running program using libcurl, if the specific series of conditions are met. libcurl performs transfers. In its API, an application creates "easy handles" that are the individual handles for single transfers. libcurl provides a function call that duplicates en easy handle called [curl_easy_duphandle](https://curl.se/libcurl/c/curl_easy_duphandle.html). If a transfer has cookies enabled when the handle is duplicated, the cookie-enable state is also cloned - but without cloning the actual cookies. If the source handle did not read any cookies from a specific file on disk, the cloned version of the handle would instead store the file name as `none` (using the four ASCII letters, no quotes). Subsequent use of the cloned handle that does not explicitly set a source to load cookies from would then inadvertently load cookies from a file named `none` - if such a file exists and is readable in the current directory of the program using libcurl. And if using the correct file format of course.
Affected vendor
Haxx
Affected product
Libcurl
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
Published
2023-10-18

Risk analysis

Based on its CVSS vector, this vulnerability is exploitable over the network, high attack complexity, requiring no privileges, no user interaction. Successful exploitation leads to low impact to integrity.

Its EPSS score of 6.2% reflects a lower probability of exploitation activity in the wild over the next 30 days, placing it above 93% of all scored CVEs.

Check your external exposure to CVE-2023-38546

  • Confirm whether Haxx Libcurl is running on any internet-facing host or subdomain.
  • Match discovered service fingerprints against the version affected by CVE-2023-38546.
  • Prioritise remediation if the asset is public, business-critical, or near authentication/payment flows.

How ThreatPort helps with CVE-2023-38546

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