CVE-2023-37457
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 · uneditedAsterisk is an open source private branch exchange and telephony toolkit. In Asterisk versions 18.20.0 and prior, 20.5.0 and prior, and 21.0.0; as well as ceritifed-asterisk 18.9-cert5 and prior, the 'update' functionality of the PJSIP_HEADER dialplan function can exceed the available buffer space for storing the new value of a header. By doing so this can overwrite memory or cause a crash. This is not externally exploitable, unless dialplan is explicitly written to update a header based on data from an outside source. If the 'update' functionality is not used the vulnerability does not occur. A patch is available at commit a1ca0268254374b515fa5992f01340f7717113fa.
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 analysisA fixed-size buffer is filled without checking the length of the incoming data, so it overflows into neighbouring memory. This is the classic overflow attackers use to overwrite return addresses and hijack execution. The fix is strict length checks and safe, bounded string and memory functions.
General guidance for the classic buffer overflow 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<= 18.20.0>= 19.0.0, <= 20.5.0= 21.0.0= 13.13.0= 16.8.0= 18.9CVSS 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
- Low
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/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 · scopedAsterisk: upgrade to versions 18.20.1, 20.5.1, or 21.0.1 or later; Certified Asterisk: upgrade to 18.9-cert6 or later (or the next certified release containing the patch)
- 1. Identify the currently running Asterisk or Certified Asterisk version using `asterisk -V` or `core show version`
- 2. Review the dialplan for any usage of the PJSIP_HEADER function with the 'update' operation, specifically looking for cases where header values are set from external/untrusted sources
- 3. If dialplan uses PJSIP_HEADER update with external data, either remove that usage or ensure data is properly validated before use
- 4. Upgrade to a patched version that includes the fix from commit a1ca0268254374b515fa5992f01340f7717113fa (refer to Asterisk release notes for version containing this security fix)
- 5. After upgrade, restart the Asterisk service using `asterisk -rx "core restart now"` or your system's service management command
- 6. Verify the upgrade was successful and test that dialplan functionality still works as expected
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-37457 — 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-2023-37457 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
Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.
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.
- 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data