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Enterprise LinuxOperating system · Redhat

CVE-2023-7250

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-03-18
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 3.15 or later.
See remediation →
62/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
A flaw was found in iperf, a utility for testing network performance using TCP, UDP, and SCTP. A malicious or malfunctioning client can send less than the expected amount of data to the iperf server, which can cause the server to hang indefinitely waiting for the remainder or until the connection gets closed. This will prevent other connections to the server, leading to a denial of service.

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

The iperf server does not properly handle clients that send less data than expected, causing it to hang indefinitely waiting for the remaining data. This blocks the connection and prevents other clients from connecting, resulting in denial of service.

MitigationImplement connection timeouts and proper state handling to prevent indefinite waiting. Consider network isolation of iperf servers and upgrading if a vendor patch becomes available.

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
Enterprise LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 8.0= 9.0
Enterprise Linux For Arm 64Operating system
Affected:= 8.0_aarch64= 9.0_aarch64
Enterprise Linux For Ibm Z SystemsOperating system
Affected:= 8.0_s390x= 9.0_s390x
Enterprise Linux For Power Little EndianOperating system
Affected:= 8.0_ppc64le
Iperf3Application
Affected:< 3.15

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
Low

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L

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 if iperf3 is installed
    Run 'rpm -qa | grep iperf3' on RHEL systems, or 'dpkg -l | grep iperf3' on Debian-based systems, or check for the iperf3 binary with 'which iperf3'
    Affected if iperf3 package or binary is found on the system
  2. Determine the installed iperf3 version
    Run 'iperf3 --version' or 'rpm -q iperf3' to get the exact version number
    Affected if The version is 3.15 or lower, or on RHEL 8.0/9.0 (any version), or for the specific architecture variants listed (8.0_aarch64, 9.0_aarch64, 8.0_s390x, 9.0_s390x, 8.0_ppc64le)
  3. Identify if iperf3 is running as a server
    Check running processes with 'ps aux | grep iperf3' and look for 'iperf3 -s' or 'iperf3 --server' in the command line, or check if port 5201 is in use with 'netstat -tlnp | grep 5201'
    Affected if iperf3 is running in server mode ('-s' or '--server' flag) and accepting client connections
  4. Verify the server is exposed to network clients
    Check network listening status with 'ss -tlnp | grep 5201' or 'netstat -tlnp | grep 5201' to confirm the iperf3 server is bound to an accessible interface
    Affected if The iperf3 server is listening on a network interface reachable by untrusted clients
  5. Test for the hang condition
    Start an iperf3 client and intentionally send less data than the specified amount (e.g., specify -n 1G but only transmit partial data, then close the connection), observe if the server hangs
    Affected if The server becomes unresponsive and stops accepting new connections after a client sends incomplete data

You are affected if iperf3 server is running and accessible, the version matches the affected ranges (RHEL 8.0/9.0 or iperf3 < 3.15), and the server can receive connections from untrusted clients

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 3.15 or later
Fixed in 3.15
Interim mitigation

Implement connection timeouts and proper state handling to prevent indefinite waiting. Consider network isolation of iperf servers and upgrading if a vendor patch becomes available.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

iperf3 >= 3.15

  1. Update the iperf3 package to version 3.15 or later using the distribution's package manager (e.g., dnf update iperf3 or yum update iperf3)
  2. Restart any running iperf3 server instances to ensure the patched version is loaded
  3. Verify the installed version using 'iperf3 --version' to confirm version 3.15 or higher is installed

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

Fix this in Enterprise Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
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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-2023-7250 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