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FreeswitchApplication

CVE-2023-40018

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-09-15
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.10.10 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable 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
FreeSWITCH is a Software Defined Telecom Stack enabling the digital transformation from proprietary telecom switches to a software implementation that runs on any commodity hardware. Prior to version 1.10.10, FreeSWITCH allows remote users to trigger out of bounds write by offering an ICE candidate with unknown component ID. When an SDP is offered with any ICE candidates with an unknown component ID, FreeSWITCH will make an out of bounds write to its arrays. By abusing this vulnerability, an attacker is able to corrupt FreeSWITCH memory leading to an undefined behavior of the system or a crash of it. Version 1.10.10 contains a patch for this issue.

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

FreeSWITCH prior to 1.10.10 contains an out-of-bounds write vulnerability in its ICE candidate processing. When receiving an SDP offer containing ICE candidates with unknown component IDs, FreeSWITCH writes beyond array bounds, corrupting memory and potentially causing undefined behavior or system crashes.

MitigationUpgrade FreeSWITCH to version 1.10.10 or later. Until then, restrict SIP/SDP access to trusted sources using network-level filtering to reduce attack surface.

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 data
FreeswitchApplication
Affected:< 1.10.10

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
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 checks

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

  1. Check FreeSWITCH installation
    Run 'freeswitch -version' or check installed packages with 'dpkg -l | grep freeswitch' or 'rpm -qa | grep freeswitch'
    Affected if FreeSWITCH is installed and version is below 1.10.10
  2. Verify FreeSWITCH daemon version
    Run 'fs_cli -x "version"' or check the running process with 'ps aux | grep freeswitch' and review logs for version string
    Affected if Running daemon version is below 1.10.10
  3. Confirm SIP/SDP handling is enabled
    Check if mod_sofia or SIP profile is loaded: 'fs_cli -x "module_list" | grep sofia' or review sip_profiles configuration in /etc/freeswitch/sip_profiles/
    Affected if SIP/SDP processing (mod_sofia) is enabled and handling external SDP offers
  4. Check for exposed SIP service
    Review network configuration for port 5060/5080 listeners: 'netstat -tlnp | grep -E "(5060|5080)"' or check sip_interfaces in FreeSWITCH config
    Affected if SIP ports are listening on external or untrusted network interfaces

You are affected if FreeSWITCH version is below 1.10.10 AND the system processes SDP offers from untrusted sources via enabled SIP/SDP handling.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to 1.10.10 or later
Fixed in 1.10.10
Interim mitigation

Upgrade FreeSWITCH to version 1.10.10 or later. Until then, restrict SIP/SDP access to trusted sources using network-level filtering to reduce attack surface.

Recommended fix High confidence

1.10.10

  1. Identify the current FreeSWITCH version by running 'freeswitch -version' or checking via package manager
  2. Backup the FreeSWITCH configuration directory (typically /etc/freeswitch or /usr/local/freeswitch/conf)
  3. Stop the FreeSWITCH service using 'systemctl stop freeswitch' or 'freeswitch -stop'
  4. Upgrade FreeSWITCH to version 1.10.10 or later using the appropriate package manager or by compiling from source
  5. For Debian/Ubuntu systems: Use 'apt-get update && apt-get install freeswitch-all' or download .deb packages from freeswitch.org
  6. For RHEL/CentOS systems: Use 'yum install freeswitch' or download .rpm packages from freeswitch.org
  7. Verify the upgrade was successful by running 'freeswitch -version' and confirming it shows 1.10.10 or higher
  8. Restore configuration from backup if needed
Caveat Review the FreeSWITCH 1.10.10 release notes for any configuration changes, API changes, or module deprecations that may require adjustments

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

Fix this in Freeswitch Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,540
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,464.

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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-2023-40018 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
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data