CVE-2023-51787
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 · uneditedAn issue was discovered in Wind River VxWorks 7 22.09 and 23.03. If a VxWorks task or POSIX thread that uses OpenSSL exits, limited per-task memory is not freed, resulting in a memory leak.
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 confidenceA memory leak in Wind River VxWorks 7 versions 22.09 and 23.03 where per-task memory allocated by OpenSSL is not freed when a VxWorks task or POSIX thread exits, leading to gradual memory exhaustion over time with repeated task creation and destruction.
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= 7CVSS 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
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
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 VxWorks versionUse the VxWorks shell command 'vrev' or check the system build manifest to determine the installed VxWorks version. Compare against the affected versions 22.09 and 23.03.Affected if The installed version is 22.09 or 23.03 of VxWorks 7.
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Confirm OpenSSL is in useCheck the VxWorks system configuration or runtime modules using 'show mem' or by listing loaded modules to verify OpenSSL (crypto library) is active. The vulnerability requires OpenSSL to be loaded and used.Affected if OpenSSL is loaded and actively used by applications on the system.
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Identify task or POSIX thread lifecycle patternsReview application design documentation or use VxWorks shell commands to observe task creation and deletion patterns. Look for applications that create and destroy tasks or threads repeatedly.Affected if The system runs applications that repeatedly create and destroy tasks or POSIX threads that make OpenSSL calls.
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Monitor for memory exhaustionUse VxWorks shell commands such as 'memShow' or 'memPartShow' to observe heap memory usage over time. Track if available memory decreases with each task/thread creation and deletion cycle.Affected if Memory usage grows progressively with repeated task or thread creation and destruction, indicating the leak is manifesting.
A system is affected if it runs VxWorks 7 version 22.09 or 23.03 with OpenSSL active and applications that repeatedly create and destroy tasks or threads, resulting in gradual memory exhaustion.
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.
From vendor dataApply vendor-provided patches for VxWorks 22.09 and 23.03 when available; monitor memory usage patterns in affected systems and implement task lifecycle management to mitigate resource exhaustion until patches are deployed.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation16.0 h
- Testing12.0 h
- Review / QA8.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $12,352.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-51787 — 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-2023-51787 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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