VulnerabilityPublished 14 Apr 2023Updated 4 Nov 2025

CVE-2023-29491: A vulnerability in ncurses versions prior to 6.4 (20230408) allows local users to cause memory

Source CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · fixed in 6.4 : patch ncurses soon.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 17:16 UTC

Severity

High

Rated High by the CNA (mitre) · No CVSS score from NVD or the CNA

EPSS: 0.9% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 61% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Affects: ncurses prior to 6.4
Patch: Available – fixed in 6.4

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 14 Apr 2023
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

AI-suggested

Upgrade ncurses to version 6.4 or later, where this vulnerability is fixed. No other mitigations are indicated.

Description

A vulnerability in ncurses versions prior to 6.4 (20230408) allows local users to cause memory corruption when a setuid application uses malformed terminfo database files located in $HOME/.terminfo or referenced via the TERMINFO or TERM environment variables.

References

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