dbcve.org
Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian

CVE-2022-43681

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-05-03
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 8.4 or later.
See remediation →
71/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
An out-of-bounds read exists in the BGP daemon of FRRouting FRR through 8.4. When sending a malformed BGP OPEN message that ends with the option length octet (or the option length word, in case of an extended OPEN message), the FRR code reads of out of the bounds of the packet, throwing a SIGABRT signal and exiting. This results in a bgpd daemon restart, causing a Denial-of-Service condition.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

An out-of-bounds read vulnerability exists in the BGP daemon (bgpd) of FRRouting through version 8.4. When processing a malformed BGP OPEN message that ends with an option length octet (or option length word for extended OPEN messages), the code reads beyond the bounds of the packet buffer. This causes a SIGABRT signal and daemon exit, triggering an automatic restart and resulting in a Denial-of-Service condition.

MitigationUpgrade FRRouting to a version beyond 8.4 that contains the fix for proper bounds checking. Additionally, implement BGP session authentication (MD5 or TCP-AO) and network-level controls to limit which peers can send BGP messages to reduce attack surface.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 10.0= 11.0= 12.0
FrroutingApplication
Affected:<= 8.4

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

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

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check if FRRouting bgpd is installed
    Run 'dpkg -l | grep frr' on Debian or check for /usr/sbin/bgpd binary with 'which bgpd'
    Affected if FRRouting package or bgpd binary is found on the system
  2. Identify installed FRRouting version
    Run 'dpkg -l frr' or 'frr --version' to obtain the exact version number
    Affected if Version is 8.4 or lower, or version cannot be determined (indicating very old installation)
  3. Verify bgpd daemon is running
    Run 'systemctl status bgpd' or check process list with 'ps aux | grep bgpd'
    Affected if bgpd process is actively running
  4. Confirm BGP peerings are configured
    Check for BGP configuration in /etc/frr/bgpd.conf or run 'vtysh -c "show ip bgp summary"' to list configured peers
    Affected if BGP neighbors or peers are configured, meaning the daemon accepts incoming BGP connections

If FRRouting version 8.4 or lower is installed, bgpd is running, and BGP peers are configured, the environment is vulnerable to CVE-2022-43681.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 8.4
Interim mitigation

Upgrade FRRouting to a version beyond 8.4 that contains the fix for proper bounds checking. Additionally, implement BGP session authentication (MD5 or TCP-AO) and network-level controls to limit which peers can send BGP messages to reduce attack surface.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

FRRouting 8.5 or later (for Debian systems, use backports or compile from source if fixed version not yet in stable repos)

  1. 1. Identify the current FRRouting package version installed on the system using: dpkg -l | grep frr or apt list --installed | grep frr
  2. 2. For Debian 10 (Buster), Debian 11 (Bullseye), and Debian 12 (Bookworm), update the package repository metadata: apt update
  3. 3. Upgrade FRRouting to the latest available version in the Debian repositories: apt install frr
  4. 4. Verify the installed version after upgrade: dpkg -l | grep frr
  5. 5. If the installed version is still <= 8.4, consider using backports repository for Debian 10/11, or wait for security updates, or compile FRR from source obtaining version 8.5 or later from the official FRR project (https://github.com/FRRouting/frr)
  6. 6. After upgrade, restart the bgpd service to apply changes: systemctl restart bgpd
  7. 7. Verify the BGP daemon is running properly: systemctl status bgpd
Caveat Upgrading FRRouting may require configuration review; test in staging environment first as daemon restart causes brief BGP session disruption

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Debian Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,100
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2022-43681 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data