NULL Pointer DereferenceWeakness · CWE-476

CVE-2023-37035

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-01-21
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
70/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
No privileges 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
A Null pointer dereference vulnerability in the Mobile Management Entity (MME) in Magma <= 1.8.0 (fixed in v1.9 commit 08472ba98b8321f802e95f5622fa90fec2dea486) allows network-adjacent attackers to crash the MME via an S1AP `S1Setup Request` packet missing an expected `Global eNB ID` field.

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

A null pointer dereference vulnerability exists in Magma's Mobile Management Entity (MME) where processing an S1AP S1Setup Request packet missing the Global eNB ID field causes the MME to crash. An attacker on the adjacent network can send a malformed S1Setup Request to trigger this denial of service.

MitigationUpgrade Magma to version 1.9 or later (commit 08472ba98b8321f802e95f5622fa90fec2dea486) which includes the fix. Consider implementing input validation at network boundaries as an additional defense-in-depth measure.

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

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
Adjacent
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:A/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 checks

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

  1. Identify if Magma MME is deployed
    Search for running magma-mme service or container: 'docker ps | grep mme' or 'systemctl list-units | grep magma' or check kubernetes pods with label 'app=mme'
    Affected if Magma MME service is found running in the environment
  2. Determine installed Magma version
    Run 'magma агент version' or check the docker image tag: 'docker images | grep magma' or inspect the Helm chart version if deployed via Kubernetes
    Affected if Version is below 1.9 (v1.8.x or earlier)
  3. Verify S1AP interface exposure to adjacent network
    Review network configuration: check if S1AP port (3642) is bound to an interface accessible from adjacent networks, or inspect firewall rules for inbound access to port 3642 from untrusted sources
    Affected if S1AP interface is reachable from adjacent (untrusted) networks without proper network filtering
  4. Check for MME crash logs related to S1Setup Request
    Review MME service logs for crash indicators: 'journalctl -u magma-mme -g crash' or 'kubectl logs <mme-pod> -grep S1Setup' or check /var/log/magma/mme.log for null pointer or segmentation fault entries mentioning S1Setup
    Affected if Recent crash logs indicate MME termination triggered by S1Setup Request processing
  5. Inspect S1AP message handling configuration
    If code is accessible, verify S1AP S1Setup handler validates Global eNB ID presence before dereferencing. Check source file s1ap_handler.c or equivalent for null check on global_enb_id
    Affected if Global eNB ID validation is missing in the S1Setup Request handler (code-level check)
  6. Verify service availability on S1AP port
    Test connectivity to S1AP service: 'nc -zv <mme-ip> 3642' or 'telnet <mme-ip> 3642' to confirm MME is listening on the S1 interface
    Affected if MME S1AP service is active and reachable, making it potentially vulnerable to malformed requests

Environment is affected if Magma MME version is below 1.9 and the S1AP interface is exposed to adjacent (untrusted) networks, allowing an attacker to send malformed S1Setup Request packets missing the Global eNB ID field.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade Magma to version 1.9 or later (commit 08472ba98b8321f802e95f5622fa90fec2dea486) which includes the fix. Consider implementing input validation at network boundaries as an additional defense-in-depth measure.

Recommended fix High confidence

v1.9

  1. 1. Back up current Magma configuration and database
  2. 2. Ensure the system meets prerequisites for Magma v1.9
  3. 3. Stop the Magma MME service
  4. 4. Upgrade Magma to version 1.9 using the standard upgrade process (e.g., via Ansible, Helm, or package manager depending on deployment)
  5. 5. Verify the MME service starts successfully
  6. 6. Test S1AP connectivity to confirm the MME handles S1Setup Request packets correctly
  7. 7. Monitor logs for any errors related to NULL pointer dereference

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

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,720
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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-2023-37035 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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