VulnerabilityPublished 12 Jan 2024Updated 3 Nov 2025

CVE-2023-0437: MongoDB C Driver · Infinite Loop

Affects MongoDB C DriverSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.3 Medium : upgrade to 1.25.0 when convenient.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 17:16 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

5.3Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 1.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 65% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 1.25.0

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: None
Availability: Low

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: Low: Performance is reduced or there are interruptions in resource availability. Even if repeated exploitation of the vulnerability is possible, the attacker does not have the ability to completely deny service to legitimate users. The resources in the impacted component are either partially available all of the time, or fully available only some of the time, but overall there is no direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 12 Jan 2024
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Upgrade MongoDB C Driver to 1.25.0.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
MongoDB Inc MongoDB C Driver	Affected <1.25.0	Fixed in 1.25.0

AI-suggested

Upgrade the MongoDB C Driver to version 1.25.0 or later immediately to eliminate the infinite loop vulnerability.
Implement strict input validation and sanitization on all data passed to MongoDB-related components to prevent malformed UTF-8 sequences from triggering the vulnerability.
Employ runtime resource monitoring and anomaly detection to identify unusual CPU or memory usage patterns indicative of infinite loops or denial of service attempts.
Restrict network exposure of services using the MongoDB C Driver by applying firewall rules, network segmentation, and access controls to limit attack surface.
Conduct regular code audits and fuzz testing on components interacting with BSON and UTF-8 data to detect similar logic flaws proactively.
Maintain an up-to-date inventory of software dependencies to ensure timely application of security patches.
Prepare incident response plans to quickly isolate and remediate affected systems in case of exploitation. 8.

Description

When calling bson_utf8_validate on some inputs a loop with an exit condition that cannot be reached may occur, i.e.an infinite loop. This issue affects All MongoDB C Driver versions prior to versions 1.25.0.

Impact

For European organizations, this vulnerability primarily threatens availability by enabling denial of service conditions through infinite loops in applications using the vulnerable MongoDB C Driver. Critical services relying on MongoDB for data storage or processing could experience outages or degraded performance, impacting business continuity. Industries such as finance, healthcare, telecommunications, and public sector entities that utilize MongoDB in backend systems may face operational disruptions. The vulnerability’s ease of exploitation without authentication increases risk, especially for internet-facing services or APIs that process external input. While no data confidentiality or integrity compromise is indicated, prolonged service unavailability can lead to indirect impacts such as loss of customer trust, regulatory non-compliance, and financial penalties under frameworks like GDPR. The absence of known exploits reduces immediate risk but does not eliminate the threat, as attackers could develop exploits targeting this flaw. European organizations with limited patch management capabilities or legacy systems may be particularly vulnerable to exploitation.

References

Community reviews

Loading reviews…

Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 3 Nov 2025, 20:18 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-835

Technical details

References

Community reviews

Related threats