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Classic Buffer OverflowWeakness · CWE-120

CVE-2023-46960

HIGH · 8.6 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-04-29
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
95/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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
Buffer Overflow vulnerability in PyPXE v.1.8.4 allows a remote attacker to cause a denial of service via the handle function in the tftp module.

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 · moderate confidence

PyPXE v1.8.4 contains a buffer overflow vulnerability in the handle function of its TFTP module. A remote attacker can exploit this to cause a denial of service, likely by sending specially crafted TFTP packets that overflow a fixed-size buffer.

MitigationUpgrade to a patched version of PyPXE if available; otherwise, implement proper bounds checking and input validation in the TFTP handle function to prevent buffer overflows.

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/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 PyPXE is installed
    Run 'pip show pypxe' or 'python -c "import pypxe; print(pypxe.__version__)"' to check if PyPXE is present and retrieve its version number
    Affected if PyPXE is not installed or the command fails
  2. Verify the installed version against affected range
    Compare the installed PyPXE version to v1.8.4 (the reported affected version); the vulnerability is confirmed present in v1.8.4
    Affected if The installed version is v1.8.4 exactly, or falls within any version range known to contain this flaw (without explicit ranges, assume v1.8.4 and possibly earlier versions are affected)
  3. Confirm TFTP module is enabled
    Inspect your PyPXE configuration files or running services to determine if the TFTP service/module is enabled (look for 'tftp', 'enable_tftp', or TFTP-related settings in your config)
    Affected if TFTP module is enabled and exposed to network traffic
  4. Check for the vulnerable handle function in TFTP code
    Locate the PyPXE source code (typically in site-packages/pypxe/ or the project directory) and inspect the TFTP module's handle function for lack of bounds checking on packet processing
    Affected if The TFTP handle function processes packets without proper length/buffer checks, indicating the vulnerability is present in the running code

You are affected if PyPXE v1.8.4 (or an unpatched earlier version) is installed with the TFTP module enabled and exposed to network traffic.

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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade to a patched version of PyPXE if available; otherwise, implement proper bounds checking and input validation in the TFTP handle function to prevent buffer overflows.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
13.0 hours of engineering $2,290
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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-2023-46960 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
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