VulnerabilityPublished 12 Jul 2023Updated 3 Nov 2025

CVE-2023-3618: libtiff · Classic Buffer Overflow

Affects libtiffSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 6.5 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 09:15 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

6.5Medium

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

EPSS: 1.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 67% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

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

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

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: Required: Successful exploitation of this vulnerability requires a user to take some action before the vulnerability can be exploited.
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: High: There is total loss of availability, resulting in the attacker being able to fully deny access to resources in the impacted component; this loss is either sustained (while the attacker continues to deliver the attack) or persistent (the condition persists even after the attack has completed). Alternatively, the attacker has the ability to deny some availability, but the loss of availability presents a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component (e.g., the attacker cannot disrupt existing connections, but can prevent new connections; the attacker can repeatedly exploit a vulnerability that, in each instance of a successful attack, leaks a only small amount of memory, but after repeated exploitation causes a service to become completely unavailable).

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 12 Jul 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 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

European organizations should implement the following specific mitigations: 1) Identify and inventory all software and systems using libtiff, particularly those processing TIFF images. 2) Monitor vendor advisories and apply patches or updates as soon as they become available to address CVE-2023-3618. 3) Implement input validation and filtering at the application or network level to block or quarantine suspicious TIFF files from untrusted sources. 4) Employ sandboxing or isolation techniques for applications processing TIFF files to contain potential crashes and prevent service-wide impact. 5) Use intrusion detection or prevention systems to detect anomalous TIFF file processing or repeated crashes indicative of exploitation attempts. 6) Educate users about the risks of opening unsolicited or untrusted TIFF files to reduce the likelihood of triggering the vulnerability. 7) Maintain robust backup and recovery procedures to minimize downtime in case of denial of service incidents.

Description

A flaw was found in libtiff. A specially crafted tiff file can lead to a segmentation fault due to a buffer overflow in the Fax3Encode function in libtiff/tif_fax3.c, resulting in a denial of service.

Impact

For European organizations, the primary impact of CVE-2023-3618 is the potential for denial of service attacks that can disrupt services relying on libtiff for TIFF image processing. This could affect document management systems, imaging software, and any automated workflows that handle TIFF files, leading to downtime or degraded service availability. While the vulnerability does not compromise data confidentiality or integrity, service interruptions can impact business operations, especially in sectors like healthcare, government, publishing, and finance where TIFF images are prevalent. Additionally, denial of service conditions can be exploited as part of a broader attack to distract or degrade defenses. The lack of known exploits reduces immediate risk, but the ease of triggering the vulnerability via crafted TIFF files means attackers could weaponize it if patches are not applied promptly.

References

Community reviews

Loading reviews…

Exploitation evidence

What to do

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 3 Nov 2025, 22:05 UTC

Technical details

References

Community reviews

Related threats