VulnerabilityPublished 17 Apr 2024Updated 4 Nov 2025

CVE-2023-4232: ofono · Memory Buffer Overflow

Affects ofonoSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 8.1 High.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 17:16 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

8.1High

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

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.

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

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: High
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: High
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: High: A successful attack depends on conditions beyond the attacker's control. That is, a successful attack cannot be accomplished at will, but requires the attacker to invest in some measurable amount of effort in preparation or execution against the vulnerable component before a successful attack can be expected. For example, a successful attack may require an attacker to: gather knowledge about the environment in which the vulnerable target/component exists; prepare the target environment to improve exploit reliability; or inject themselves into the logical network path between the target and the resource requested by the victim in order to read and/or modify network communications (e.g., a man in the middle attack).
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: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: High: There is a total loss of integrity, or a complete loss of protection. For example, the attacker is able to modify any/all files protected by the impacted component. Alternatively, only some files can be modified, but malicious modification would present a direct, serious consequence to 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 17 Apr 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

AI-suggested

Monitor vendor advisories closely and apply official patches or updates for ofono as soon as they become available.
Implement strict network segmentation to isolate modems and telephony stacks from critical internal networks, limiting attacker lateral movement.
Restrict access to modems and cellular interfaces to trusted management systems only, using strong authentication and access controls.
Deploy anomaly detection systems to monitor SMS traffic for unusual or malformed messages that could indicate exploitation attempts.
Where possible, disable or limit SMS status report processing if not required by the operational environment.
Conduct regular security assessments of embedded devices and telephony infrastructure to identify and remediate outdated or vulnerable software components.
Collaborate with telecom providers to ensure base stations and network elements are secured against compromise, reducing attack surface from malicious base stations.

Description

A flaw was found in ofono, an Open Source Telephony on Linux. A stack overflow bug is triggered within the decode_status_report() function during the SMS decoding. It is assumed that the attack scenario is accessible from a compromised modem, a malicious base station, or just SMS. There is a bound check for this memcpy length in decode_submit(), but it was forgotten in decode_status_report().

Impact

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2023-4232 could be substantial, particularly for telecom operators, IoT device manufacturers, and enterprises using Linux-based telephony stacks. Exploitation could allow attackers to execute arbitrary code on modems or devices managing cellular communications, potentially leading to interception or manipulation of sensitive communications, disruption of telephony services, or pivoting into internal networks. Critical infrastructure relying on cellular connectivity, such as emergency services, transport systems, or industrial control systems, could face operational disruptions or data breaches. The vulnerability’s remote exploitability without user interaction increases the risk of widespread attacks, especially in environments where modems are exposed or poorly segmented. Given the growing adoption of embedded Linux in European telecom and IoT sectors, the threat could affect a broad range of devices and services.

References

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 4 Nov 2025, 18:35 UTC

Technical details

References

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