CVE-2023-23625 : What You Need to Know

This CVE-2023-23625 involves a denial of service vulnerability in HAMT Decoding in go-unixfs, impacting versions prior to 0.4.3. It has been assigned a CVSS base score of 5.9, with medium severity.

Understanding CVE-2023-23625

This vulnerability in go-unixfs can lead to uncontrolled resource consumption, potentially causing panics and virtual memory leaks when trying to read malformed HAMT sharded directories. Attackers can exploit this issue by triggering a panic through malicious inputs.

What is CVE-2023-23625?

The CVE-2023-23625 vulnerability in go-unixfs stems from a flaw in the

fanout

parameter in the HAMT directory nodes. It allows attackers to cause denial of service by consuming excessive resources, leading to system instability.

The Impact of CVE-2023-23625

With a CVSS base score of 5.9, this vulnerability can have a notable impact on affected systems, potentially resulting in service disruptions, crashes, or unresponsiveness due to resource exhaustion caused by the decoding process.

Technical Details of CVE-2023-23625

The vulnerability affects the go-unixfs implementation of a unix-like filesystem on top of an ipld merkledag. Upgrading to version 0.4.3 is recommended to address the issue, as older versions are susceptible to the resource consumption issue.

Vulnerability Description

The vulnerability allows for uncontrolled resource consumption when reading malformed HAMT sharded directories in go-unixfs, leading to panics and memory leaks. Attackers can exploit this by providing malicious input to trigger system panics.

Affected Systems and Versions

Vendor: ipfs
Product: go-unixfs
Affected Versions: < 0.4.3

Exploitation Mechanism

The exploitation of CVE-2023-23625 involves manipulating the

fanout

parameter in the HAMT directory nodes within go-unixfs, causing the system to consume resources excessively when handling malformed input, resulting in a denial of service condition.

Mitigation and Prevention

To mitigate the risks associated with CVE-2023-23625, users are advised to take immediate action to secure their systems and prevent potential attacks.

Immediate Steps to Take

Upgrade to version 0.4.3 of go-unixfs to mitigate the vulnerability.
Avoid processing untrusted user data with the decoding functions of go-unixfs to prevent exploitation.

Long-Term Security Practices

Regularly monitor for updates and security advisories for go-unixfs.
Implement secure coding practices to prevent similar vulnerabilities in the future.

Patching and Updates

Stay informed about security patches and updates released by the vendor to address vulnerabilities promptly.
Ensure timely application of patches to protect systems from potential exploitation of known vulnerabilities.