CVE-2023-37039
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 · uneditedA Null pointer dereference vulnerability in the Mobile Management Entity (MME) in Magma <= 1.8.0 (fixed in v1.9 commit 08472ba98b8321f802e95f5622fa90fec2dea486) allow network-adjacent attackers to crash the MME via an S1AP `Initial UE Message` packet missing an expected `RRC Establishment Clause` 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 confidenceA null pointer dereference vulnerability in Magma's Mobile Management Entity (MME) allows network-adjacent attackers to crash the MME service by sending a malformed S1AP Initial UE Message packet that is missing the expected RRC Establishment Clause field.
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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify Magma deploymentCheck if Magma is installed in your environment by looking for magma-related processes, services, or packages (e.g., running 'ps aux | grep -i magma' or checking for /etc/magma or /var/opt/magma directories)Affected if Magma MME component is present in the environment
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Determine Magma versionRun 'magmactl version' or check /opt/magma/version file, or inspect the Docker image tag if running containers, to obtain the installed Magma versionAffected if The version is below v1.9 (e.g., v1.8.x or earlier)
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Verify MME component is enabledCheck MME configuration files (typically in /etc/magma or /var/opt/magma/mme.yml) for the mme service definition, or query the service status via 'magmactl status' to confirm MME is activeAffected if MME service is enabled and running
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Check S1AP interface exposureInspect MME configuration for S1AP listener settings (look for 's1ap' or 'mme_s1ap' entries in config files) and verify network exposure via 'netstat -tulnp | grep s1ap' or similar network listening checkAffected if S1AP interface is listening on a network-exposed port (port 36412 is standard for S1AP)
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Review S1AP Initial UE Message handlingEnable MME debug logging and inspect logs for S1AP message parsing, or use packet capture on S1AP interface to observe Initial UE Message packetsAffected if MME is processing S1AP traffic without validation of RRC Establishment Clause field presence
You are affected if Magma MME is running and the installed version is below v1.9 while S1AP interface is exposed to network traffic.
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.
dbcve · scopedUpgrade Magma to v1.9 or later (commit 08472ba98b8321f802e95f5622fa90fec2dea486) which contains the fix for this null pointer dereference in the MME component.
Magma v1.9
- 1. Backup current Magma configuration and database
- 2. Upgrade Magma to version 1.9 or later from the current <=1.8.0 version
- 3. Verify the MME service starts successfully after upgrade
- 4. Check MME logs to confirm no null pointer dereference errors occur
- 5. Monitor MME stability to ensure the vulnerability is remediated
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,816.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-37039 — 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-2023-37039 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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