Vulnerability identifier: #VU81863

Vulnerability risk: Low

CVSSv3.1: 2.3 [CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N/E:U/RL:O/RC:C]

CVE-ID: CVE-2023-38546

CWE-ID: CWE-73

Exploitation vector: Network

Exploit availability: No

Vulnerable software:
cURL
Client/Desktop applications / Other client software

Vendor: curl.haxx.se

Description

The vulnerability allows an attacker to inject arbitrary cookies into request.

The vulnerability exists due to the way cookies are handled by libcurl. 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.

Mitigation
Install updates from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

cURL: 7.9.1 - 8.3.0

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External links
http://curl.haxx.se/docs/CVE-2023-38546.html

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Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

Yes. This vulnerability can be exploited by a remote authenticated user via the Internet.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

No. We are not aware of malware exploiting this vulnerability.