CVE-2023-32842
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 · uneditedIn 5G Modem, there is a possible system crash due to improper error handling. This could lead to remote denial of service when receiving malformed RRC messages, with no additional execution privileges needed. User interaction is not needed for exploitation. Patch ID: MOLY01130256; Issue ID: MOLY01130256 (MSV-848).
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 confidenceThis is a denial of service vulnerability in 5G modem firmware where improper error handling when processing malformed RRC (Radio Resource Control) messages causes the system to crash. The attack is remote and requires no user interaction or elevated privileges, making it highly exploitable.
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 dataall versionsall versionsall versionsCVSS 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
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the 5G modem hardware and firmware versionAccess the device's modem firmware information through AT commands (such as AT+CGMR or ATI), system logs, or the device's administrative interface to retrieve the Mediatek modem firmware versionAffected if The device uses Mediatek Nr15, Nr16, or Nr17 5G modem firmware and the version is earlier than MOLY01130256 or the version cannot be determined but matches these product lines
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Verify the modem chipset modelCheck the device specifications, boot logs, or use AT commands (such as AT+CGMM) to identify if the 5G modem is based on Mediatek Nr15, Nr16, or Nr17 chipset architectureAffected if The modem is identified as a Mediatek Nr15, Nr16, or Nr17 variant
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Confirm the device processes RRC messagesSince any 5G device with an active connection processes RRC messages as part of normal operation, verify that the device has 5G connectivity enabled and is actively communicating over a 5G networkAffected if The device has 5G radio capabilities and is connected to or configured for a 5G network
The user is affected if their 5G modem firmware is based on Mediatek Nr15, Nr16, or Nr17 and the firmware version predates the MOLY01130256 patch or cannot be verified as patched.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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.
From vendor dataApply the vendor patch (MOLY01130256) to update the 5G modem firmware. If immediate patching is not feasible, consider network-level filtering of obviously malformed RRC messages at the RAN or core level as a temporary mitigation, though this may not prevent all exploit attempts.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-32842 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-32842 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- 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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