CVE-2023-29491: ncurses before 6.4 20230408, when used by a setuid application, allows local users to trigger security-relevant memory corruption via malfor
Noroxi assessment
Priority: Monitor (action score 31/100)
- The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
- Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 0.97% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 62.1% of all records.
- Someone with local access to the system can trigger it. A low-privileged account is enough. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
- Fixed version: CBL Mariner 1.0 ARM 6.4-1; CBL Mariner 1.0 x64 6.4-1; CBL Mariner 2.0 ARM 6.4-1.
Low priority for now. Upgrade to CBL Mariner 1.0 ARM 6.4-1; CBL Mariner 1.0 x64 6.4-1; CBL Mariner 2.0 ARM 6.4-1 or later.
Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it
Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS
ncurses before 6.4 20230408, when used by a setuid application, allows local users to trigger security-relevant memory corruption via malformed data in a terminfo database file that is found in $HOME/.terminfo or reached via the TERMINFO or TERM environment variable.
- Published
- Apr 14, 2023
- Updated
- Oct 14, 2026
- EPSS
- 0.9% · 62th percentile
- CWE
- CWE-787
Report tools
Action score
31
Monitor
Low priority for now.
- CVSS
- 31 / 40 · 7.8 / 10
- CISA KEV
- 0 / 30 · Not listed
- EPSS
- 0 / 30 · 0.9%
CISA SSVC decision
- Exploitation
- none
- Automatable
- no
- Technical impact
- total
Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.
Get told when this record changes
- Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
- No public exploit code on record
- A fix has been released
If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.
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Noroxi analysis
What does it mean in your environment?
The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.
We use this product, ask for helpAffected systems
Is your version affected?
Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.
| Vendor | Product | CPE |
|---|---|---|
| invisible-island | ncurses | cpe:2.3:a:invisible-island:ncurses |
Affected versions
NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.
- invisible-island ncursesbefore 6.4
Package-level exposure
OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.
| Ecosystem | Package | Affected range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| AlmaLinux:8 | ncurses | before 6.1-9.20180224.el8_8.1 | 6.1-9.20180224.el8_8.1 |
| AlmaLinux:8 | ncurses-base | before 6.1-9.20180224.el8_8.1 | 6.1-9.20180224.el8_8.1 |
| AlmaLinux:8 | ncurses-c++-libs | before 6.1-9.20180224.el8_8.1 | 6.1-9.20180224.el8_8.1 |
| AlmaLinux:8 | ncurses-compat-libs | before 6.1-9.20180224.el8_8.1 | 6.1-9.20180224.el8_8.1 |
| AlmaLinux:8 | ncurses-devel | before 6.1-9.20180224.el8_8.1 | 6.1-9.20180224.el8_8.1 |
| AlmaLinux:8 | ncurses-libs | before 6.1-9.20180224.el8_8.1 | 6.1-9.20180224.el8_8.1 |
| AlmaLinux:8 | ncurses-term | before 6.1-9.20180224.el8_8.1 | 6.1-9.20180224.el8_8.1 |
| AlmaLinux:9 | ncurses | before 6.2-10.20210508.el9 | 6.2-10.20210508.el9 |
| AlmaLinux:9 | ncurses-base | before 6.2-10.20210508.el9 | 6.2-10.20210508.el9 |
| AlmaLinux:9 | ncurses-c++-libs | before 6.2-10.20210508.el9 | 6.2-10.20210508.el9 |
| AlmaLinux:9 | ncurses-devel | before 6.2-10.20210508.el9 | 6.2-10.20210508.el9 |
| AlmaLinux:9 | ncurses-libs | before 6.2-10.20210508.el9 | 6.2-10.20210508.el9 |
| AlmaLinux:9 | ncurses-term | before 6.2-10.20210508.el9 | 6.2-10.20210508.el9 |
| Alpine:v3.15 | ncurses | before 6.3_p20211120-r2 | 6.3_p20211120-r2 |
| Alpine:v3.16 | ncurses | before 6.3_p20220521-r1 | 6.3_p20220521-r1 |
| Alpine:v3.17 | ncurses | before 6.3_p20221119-r1 | 6.3_p20221119-r1 |
| Alpine:v3.19 | ncurses | before 6.4_p20230424-r0 | 6.4_p20230424-r0 |
| Debian:10 | ncurses | before 6.1+20181013-2+deb10u5 | 6.1+20181013-2+deb10u5 |
| Debian:12 | ncurses | before 6.4-3 | 6.4-3 |
| openSUSE:Leap Micro 5.3 | ncurses | before 6.1-150000.5.15.1 | 6.1-150000.5.15.1 |
| Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | ncurses | before 0:6.1-9.20180224.el8_8.1 | 0:6.1-9.20180224.el8_8.1 |
| Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | ncurses-base | before 0:6.1-9.20180224.el8_8.1 | 0:6.1-9.20180224.el8_8.1 |
| Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | ncurses-c++-libs | before 0:6.1-9.20180224.el8_8.1 | 0:6.1-9.20180224.el8_8.1 |
| Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | ncurses-c++-libs-debuginfo | before 0:6.1-9.20180224.el8_8.1 | 0:6.1-9.20180224.el8_8.1 |
+44
Same product
invisible-island: all recordsOther highest-scoring records for the same primary product.
- CVE-2017-10685In ncurses 6.0, there is a format string vulnerability in the fmt_entry function.40Plan
- CVE-2017-10684In ncurses 6.0, there is a stack-based buffer overflow in the fmt_entry function.40Plan
- CVE-2021-39537An issue was discovered in ncurses through v6.2-1.36Monitor
Published before and after this one in the same product
- ← EarlierCVE-2019-17595Oct 14, 2019 · There is a heap-based buffer over-read in the fmt_entry function in tinfo/comp_hash.c in the terminfo library in ncurses before 6.1-2019101222Monitor
- ← EarlierCVE-2022-29458Apr 18, 2022 · ncurses 6.3 before patch 20220416 has an out-of-bounds read and segmentation violation in convert_strings in tinfo/read_entry.c in the termi28Monitor
- Later →CVE-2020-19185Aug 22, 2023 · Buffer Overflow vulnerability in one_one_mapping function in progs/dump_entry.c:1373 in ncurses 6.1 allows remote attackers to cause a denia27Monitor
Remediation
Which version to upgrade to
Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.
| Product / package | Fixed version | Source |
|---|---|---|
| CBL Mariner 1.0 ARM | 6.4-1 · ncurses | Microsoft (MSRC) |
| CBL Mariner 1.0 x64 | 6.4-1 · ncurses | Microsoft (MSRC) |
| CBL Mariner 2.0 ARM | 6.4-1 · ncurses | Microsoft (MSRC) |
| CBL Mariner 2.0 x64 | 6.4-1 · ncurses | Microsoft (MSRC) |
| almalinux:ncurses | 6.1-9.20180224.el8_8.1 · AlmaLinux:8 | Package registry (OSV) |
| almalinux:ncurses-base | 6.1-9.20180224.el8_8.1 · AlmaLinux:8 | Package registry (OSV) |
| almalinux:ncurses-c++-libs | 6.1-9.20180224.el8_8.1 · AlmaLinux:8 | Package registry (OSV) |
| almalinux:ncurses-compat-libs | 6.1-9.20180224.el8_8.1 · AlmaLinux:8 | Package registry (OSV) |
| almalinux:ncurses-devel | 6.1-9.20180224.el8_8.1 · AlmaLinux:8 | Package registry (OSV) |
| almalinux:ncurses-libs | 6.1-9.20180224.el8_8.1 · AlmaLinux:8 | Package registry (OSV) |
| almalinux:ncurses-term | 6.1-9.20180224.el8_8.1 · AlmaLinux:8 | Package registry (OSV) |
| alpine:ncurses | 6.3_p20211120-r2 · Alpine:v3.15 | Package registry (OSV) |
| debian:ncurses | 6.4-3 · Debian:12 | Package registry (OSV) |
| opensuse:ncurses | 6.1-150000.5.15.1 · openSUSE:Leap Micro 5.3 | Package registry (OSV) |
| red hat:ncurses | 0:6.1-9.20180224.el8_8.1 · Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | Package registry (OSV) |
| red hat:ncurses-base | 0:6.1-9.20180224.el8_8.1 · Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | Package registry (OSV) |
| red hat:ncurses-c++-libs | 0:6.1-9.20180224.el8_8.1 · Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | Package registry (OSV) |
| red hat:ncurses-c++-libs-debuginfo | 0:6.1-9.20180224.el8_8.1 · Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | Package registry (OSV) |
| red hat:ncurses-compat-libs | 0:6.1-9.20180224.el8_8.1 · Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | Package registry (OSV) |
| red hat:ncurses-compat-libs-debuginfo | 0:6.1-9.20180224.el8_8.1 · Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | Package registry (OSV) |
| red hat:ncurses-debuginfo | 0:6.1-9.20180224.el8_8.1 · Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | Package registry (OSV) |
| red hat:ncurses-debugsource | 0:6.1-9.20180224.el8_8.1 · Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | Package registry (OSV) |
| red hat:ncurses-devel | 0:6.1-9.20180224.el8_8.1 · Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | Package registry (OSV) |
| red hat:ncurses-libs | 0:6.1-9.20180224.el8_8.1 · Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | Package registry (OSV) |
| red hat:ncurses-libs-debuginfo | 0:6.1-9.20180224.el8_8.1 · Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | Package registry (OSV) |
| red hat:ncurses-term | 0:6.1-9.20180224.el8_8.1 · Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | Package registry (OSV) |
| suse:ncurses | 6.1-150000.5.15.1 · SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.3 | Package registry (OSV) |
Exploit status
No known public exploit
No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.
Research context
For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.
Timeline
From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.
No dated events beyond publication.
No history yet (it accumulates with the daily EPSS job).
Patch and commit links
Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.
No commit or PR link among the references.
Credits
All researchersFinders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.
No credits in the CNA record.
Variant candidates
Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.
No nightly-computed relations.
Chain candidates
An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.
—
Bug bounty scope
No known public program.
Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).
Technical details
Attack conditions
- Someone with local access to the system can trigger it.
- A low-privileged account is enough.
- No user action is required.
- No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
If successful
- Confidentiality
- high · data can be read
- Integrity
- high · data or configuration can be modified
- Availability
- high · the service can be disrupted
- Attack vector
- Local
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality impact
- High
- Integrity impact
- High
- Availability impact
- High
Weakness class (CWE)
CWE-787 · Out-of-bounds WriteCVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
nvd-primary
Attack context
MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.
MITRE has no CAPEC/ATT&CK mapping for this CWE.
Change log
- Fix✗ → ✓
For records you follow, these changes also arrive as notifications. →
References
Show all references (12 more)Show less
- www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/04/19/10
- lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2023/12/msg00004.html
- lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/LU4MYMKFEZQ5VSCVLRIZGDQOUW3T44GT/
- security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20230517-0009/
- support.apple.com/kb/HT213843
- support.apple.com/kb/HT213844
- support.apple.com/kb/HT213845
- www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/04/12/5
- www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/04/13/4
- lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/LU4MYMKFEZQ5VSCVLRIZGDQOUW3T44GT/
- cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-202008.html
- cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-398330.html
Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.