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TcpdumpApplication

CVE-2023-1801

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-04-07
Patch available
A vendor patch is available. No clean upgrade release — apply the published patch.
See remediation →
72/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges Patch available

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
The SMB protocol decoder in tcpdump version 4.99.3 can perform an out-of-bounds write when decoding a crafted network packet.

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
How this class of weakness works · CWE-787

The program writes past the bounds of a buffer, overwriting adjacent memory an attacker can turn to their advantage. Crafted input can overwrite control data and redirect execution. Remediation is validating every index and length before a write, plus modern memory-safety mitigations.

General guidance for the out-of-bounds write class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

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
TcpdumpApplication
Affected:= 4.99.3

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
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

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

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
Patch available Apply the vendor patch
Vendor patch github.com →
Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Any tcpdump release version higher than 4.99.3 that incorporates the fix from commit 03c037bbd75588beba3ee09f26d17783d21e30bc (check release notes for security fixes)

  1. 1. Identify the tcpdump version currently installed on the system using: tcpdump --version
  2. 2. If the installed version is 4.99.3, plan for an upgrade
  3. 3. Obtain the fixed tcpdump release. Check the official tcpdump releases page at https://github.com/the-tcpdump-group/tcpdump/releases for a version newer than 4.99.3 that includes the security fix from commit 03c037bbd75588beba3ee09f26d17783d21e30bc
  4. 4. Download the source code or pre-built package of the fixed version
  5. 5. Install the fixed version following standard installation procedures for your platform (e.g., compile from source, or use package manager with updated packages)
  6. 6. Verify the installation by running: tcpdump --version
  7. 7. Confirm the version number is newer than 4.99.3
Caveat Minor: Review release notes for any changes to packet decoding behavior or command-line options that may affect existing scripts or workflows

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

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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-2023-1801 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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
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