Security Resilience

CVE-2023-28116

Memory Safety in Contiki-Ng ≤ 4.8

Published
17 March 2023
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 8.1
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0069 52th percentile
Risk Priority 60 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2023-28116 is a high-severity Classic Buffer Overflow (CWE-120) vulnerability in Contiki-Ng Contiki-Ng. Its CVSS base score is 8.1 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Security Account Manager (T1003.002); ranked in the top 48% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Contiki-NG is an open-source, cross-platform operating system for internet of things (IoT) devices. In versions 4.8 and prior, an out-of-bounds write can occur in the BLE L2CAP module of the Contiki-NG operating system. The network stack of Contiki-NG uses a…

more

global buffer (packetbuf) for processing of packets, with the size of PACKETBUF_SIZE. In particular, when using the BLE L2CAP module with the default configuration, the PACKETBUF_SIZE value becomes larger then the actual size of the packetbuf. When large packets are processed by the L2CAP module, a buffer overflow can therefore occur when copying the packet data to the packetbuf. The vulnerability has been patched in the "develop" branch of Contiki-NG, and will be included in release 4.9. The problem can be worked around by applying the patch manually.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1003.002 Security Account Manager Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to extract credential material from the Security Account Manager (SAM) database either through in-memory techniques or through the Windows Registry where the SAM database is stored.
T1003.003 NTDS Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access or create a copy of the Active Directory domain database in order to steal credential information, as well as obtain other information about domain members such as devices, users, and access rights.
T1003.004 LSA Secrets Credential Access
Adversaries with SYSTEM access to a host may attempt to access Local Security Authority (LSA) secrets, which can contain a variety of different credential materials, such as credentials for service accounts.
T1003.006 DCSync Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access credentials and other sensitive information by abusing a Windows Domain Controller's application programming interface (API)(Citation: Microsoft DRSR Dec 2017) (Citation: Microsoft GetNCCChanges) (Citati…
T1003.008 /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to dump the contents of <code>/etc/passwd</code> and <code>/etc/shadow</code> to enable offline password cracking.
T1006 Direct Volume Access Stealth
Adversaries may directly access a volume to bypass file access controls and file system monitoring.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-48229Same product: Contiki-Ng Contiki-Ng
CVE-2023-23609Same product: Contiki-Ng Contiki-Ng
CVE-2023-7222Shared CWE-120, CWE-787
CVE-2020-15999Shared CWE-120, CWE-787
CVE-2023-0977Shared CWE-120, CWE-787
CVE-2024-57578Shared CWE-120, CWE-787
CVE-2024-52755Shared CWE-120, CWE-787
CVE-2024-43700Shared CWE-120, CWE-787
CVE-2024-7582Shared CWE-120, CWE-787
CVE-2024-57703Shared CWE-120, CWE-787

Affected Assets

contiki-ng
contiki-ng
≤ 4.8

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

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Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

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Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

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Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V5.2.1

Likely Mitigating Controls AI

Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.

addresses: CWE-120

Platform-independent managed code eliminates the need for unchecked native buffer copies that are the root cause of classic buffer overflows.

addresses: CWE-787

Out-of-bounds writes that corrupt control flow or inject shellcode are rendered non-executable by the same memory protections.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

ID.RA-01 partial match
blocks

Vulnerability identification processes such as code review or scanning detect classic buffer overflows before exploitation.

PR.PS-02 partial match
blocks

Routine patching replaces vulnerable code containing unchecked buffer copies with corrected versions.

PR.PS-06 partial match
blocks

Secure development practices directly enforce bounds checking and input validation that prevent classic buffer overflows.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

removes
removes
removes
removes
removes

References