VulnerabilityPublished 27 Mar 2024Updated 4 Nov 2025

CVE-2023-46051: NULL Pointer Dereference

Source CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 3.3 Low.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 12:54 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

3.3Low

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

EPSS: 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 17% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

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

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

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

Attack Vector: Local: The vulnerable component is not bound to the network stack and the attacker’s path is via read/write/execute capabilities. Either: the attacker exploits the vulnerability by accessing the target system locally (e.g., keyboard, console), or remotely (e.g., SSH); or the attacker relies on User Interaction by another person to perform actions required to exploit the vulnerability (e.g., tricking a legitimate user into opening a malicious document).
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: 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 27 Mar 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

To mitigate CVE-2023-46051, European organizations should implement the following specific measures: 1) Restrict local access to systems running TeX Live to trusted users only, minimizing the risk of malicious file execution. 2) Educate users about the risks of processing untrusted or malformed TeX files, emphasizing cautious handling and validation before compilation. 4) Consider sandboxing or isolating TeX Live processes to contain potential crashes and prevent broader system impact. 5) Integrate input validation or scanning tools to detect malformed TeX files before processing in automated workflows. 6) Maintain robust backup and recovery procedures to quickly restore services if a denial of service occurs. These targeted actions go beyond generic advice by focusing on access control, user awareness, and process isolation specific to TeX Live environments.

Description

TeX Live 944e257 allows a NULL pointer dereference in texk/web2c/pdftexdir/tounicode.c. NOTE: this is disputed because it should be categorized as a usability problem.

Impact

For European organizations, the primary impact of CVE-2023-46051 is limited to availability disruptions. Entities relying heavily on TeX Live for academic publishing, research documentation, or automated report generation may experience application crashes leading to temporary denial of service. Since the vulnerability requires local access and user interaction, remote exploitation is unlikely, reducing the risk of widespread attacks. However, in environments where TeX Live is integrated into automated pipelines or shared systems, a malicious or malformed TeX file could interrupt operations. Confidentiality and integrity of data remain unaffected, minimizing the risk of data breaches or manipulation. The low severity and absence of known exploits reduce immediate threat levels, but organizations should remain vigilant to prevent potential misuse in insider threat scenarios or accidental disruptions.

Summary

CVE-2023-46051 identifies a NULL pointer dereference vulnerability in TeX Live, specifically within the pdftexdir/tounicode.c source file. This vulnerability arises when the software attempts to dereference a NULL pointer, leading to an application crash and thus a denial of service (DoS) condition. The affected component is part of the pdfTeX engine used for processing TeX documents into PDF format. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference). The CVSS v3.1 base score is 3.3, indicating low severity, with the vector AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L. This means exploitation requires local access (AV:L), low attack complexity (AC:L), no privileges (PR:N), but user interaction (UI:R). The scope remains unchanged (S:U), and only availability is impacted (A:L), with no confidentiality or integrity impact. The vulnerability is disputed, with some considering it a usability issue rather than a security flaw, as it does not allow unauthorized access or data manipulation. No patches or known exploits are currently available. The vulnerability could cause TeX Live to crash when processing specially crafted or malformed TeX files, potentially disrupting workflows that depend on TeX Live for document compilation.

CWE-476NULL Pointer Dereference (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: MediumCWE Top 25 (2025): #13OWASP Top 10 A10:2025: Mishandling of Exceptional Conditions (opens in a new tab)
The product dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid but is NULL.
Implementation
For any pointers that could have been modified or provided from a function that can return NULL, check the pointer for NULL before use. When working with a multithreaded or otherwise asynchronous environment, ensure that proper locking APIs are used to lock before the check, and unlock when it has finished.
Requirements
Select a programming language that is not susceptible to these issues.
Implementation
Check the results of all functions that return a value and verify that the value is non-null before acting upon it.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Logging (opens in a new tab)
Error Handling (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V11.1.7 (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 4 Nov 2025, 18:59 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-476

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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