HermesApplication · Facebook

CVE-2023-23556

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-05-18
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 2023-02-02 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click 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
An error in BigInt conversion to Number in Hermes prior to commit a6dcafe6ded8e61658b40f5699878cd19a481f80 could have been used by a malicious attacker to execute arbitrary code due to an out-of-bound write. Note that this bug is only exploitable in cases where Hermes is used to execute untrusted JavaScript. Hence, most React Native applications are not affected.

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
HermesApplication
Affected:< 2023-02-02

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
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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
Upgrade available Upgrade to 2023-02-02 or later
Fixed in 2023-02-02
Vendor patch github.com →
Recommended fix High confidence

Hermes version 2023.02.02 or later (or the commit a6dcafe6ded8e61658b40f5699878cd19a481f80)

  1. 1. Identify the Hermes version currently used in your React Native application by checking package.json or package-lock.json for the 'hermes' or '@react-native-community/cli' dependency version.
  2. 2. Update Hermes to version 2023.02.02 or later by running 'npm install hermes@latest' or 'yarn add hermes@latest' to pull in the fixed release.
  3. 3. Rebuild your React Native application to bundle the updated Hermes engine.
  4. 4. If using a pre-built React Native binary, update to a React Native version that ships with Hermes >= 2023.02.02, or wait for an official React Native release that includes the patched Hermes.
  5. 5. Verify the updated Hermes version in your build output matches or exceeds the 2023-02-02 release date.
Caveat Most React Native applications are not affected since this bug only affects scenarios where Hermes executes untrusted JavaScript; however, verify compatibility with your specific Hermes usage before deploying to production.

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

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $3,550. Get the upgrade done

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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-2023-23556 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
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