CVE-2023-38545

CRITICALPre-NVD 8.89.8▲
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence

Score 9.8 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: CRITICAL) published 2023-10-18. CISA-ADP (Vulnrichment) CVSS v3.1 baseline 8.8; sources differ by 1.0.

Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: cisa-adp, epss, ghsa
Weaponized
9.8EG
EchelonGraph verdictPatch this weekExploitation is likely or a public exploit exists.
  • High exploitation likelihood — EPSS 78%
  • Public exploit code is available (ssvc poc, epss top5pct, epss high, public exploit)
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 78%CVSS: 8.8Exploit: ssvc poc · epss top5pct · epss high · public exploitExposed services: Not assessed

A fix is available — apply it.

This flaw makes curl overflow a heap based buffer in the SOCKS5 proxy handshake.

When curl is asked to pass along the host name to the SOCKS5 proxy to allow that to resolve the address instead of it getting done by curl itself, the maximum length that host name can be is 255 bytes.

If the host name is detected to be longer, curl switches to local name resolving and instead passes on the resolved address only. Due to this bug, the local variable that means "let the host resolve the name" could get the wrong value during a slow SOCKS5 handshake, and contrary to the intention, copy the too long host name to the target buffer instead of copying just the resolved address there.

The target buffer being a heap based buffer, and the host name coming from the URL that curl has been told to operate with.

CVSS v3
8.8
EG Score
9.8CRITICALmedium confidence
EG Risk
75
EG Risk 75/100CISA SSVC

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).

How it’s computed
Severity98% × 45%
Exploitation78% × 40%
Automatability0% × 15%
CISA SSVC: Track at low, Track* at medium and Attend at high mission impact.
Action: A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines at low or medium mission impact and sooner than that at high.
EPSS PROB
78%
EPSS %ILE
99th
KEV
Not listed

CISA SSVCTrack at low, Track* at medium and Attend at high mission impact.

A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines at low or medium mission impact and sooner than that at high.

Exploitation public PoC (CISA Vulnrichment) · Automatable no (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact total (CISA Vulnrichment). Mission impact is CISA's Mission & Well-being decision point, and only you can judge it: high means the affected system is essential to your organisation's mission, or its compromise could cause irreversible harm to people. CISA's decision table

Published

October 18, 2023

Last Modified

July 14, 2026

Advisory Details (9)

Auto-updated May 12, 2026
Patch available.
generic

About the security content of macOS Monterey 12.7.3 - Apple Support

https://support.apple.com/kb/HT214057
generic

About the security content of macOS Sonoma 14.2 - Apple Support

https://support.apple.com/kb/HT214036
generic

[SECURITY] Fedora 37 Update: curl-7.85.0-12.fc37 - package-announce - Fedora mailing-lists

https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/OGMXNRNSJ4ETDK6FRNU3J7SABXPWCHSQ/
generic

curl - SOCKS5 heap buffer overflow - CVE-2023-38545

https://curl.se/docs/CVE-2023-38545.html
generic

Full Disclosure: APPLE-SA-01-22-2024-7 macOS Monterey 12.7.3

http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2024/Jan/38
generic

Full Disclosure: APPLE-SA-01-22-2024-6 macOS Ventura 13.6.4

http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2024/Jan/37
generic

Full Disclosure: APPLE-SA-01-22-2024-3 iOS 16.7.5 and iPadOS 16.7.5

http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2024/Jan/34

Patch Availability(9)

Vendor / EcosystemFix (by version range) / PatchReleasedSource
ubuntulibcurl4-openssl-dev (7.88.1-8ubuntu2.3) @ lunar2026-05-20ubuntu
ubuntulibcurl4-openssl-dev (8.2.1-1ubuntu3.1) @ mantic2026-05-20ubuntu
redhatpuppet-agent-0:7.27.0-1.el9sat2024-04-23redhat
redhatpuppet-agent-0:7.27.0-1.el8sat2024-02-13redhat
redhatjbcs-httpd24-curl2023-12-07redhat
redhatjbcs-httpd24-curl-0:8.4.0-2.el7jbcs2023-12-07redhat
redhatcurl-0:7.76.1-26.el9_3.22023-11-07redhat
redhatcurl-0:7.76.1-23.el9_2.42023-10-17redhat
redhatcurl-0:7.76.1-14.el9_0.92023-10-13redhat

Patches are aggregated from vendor advisories (Red Hat, Microsoft, Cisco, GitHub) and package ecosystems (OSV, GHSA). Multiple rows for the same upstream release have been deduplicated.

Affected Packages

(14 across 14 ecosystems)
Alpine:v3.15(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
curl—
  • every version up to 8.4.0-r0: fixed in 8.4.0-r0
—
Alpine:v3.16(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
curl—
  • every version up to 8.4.0-r0: fixed in 8.4.0-r0
—
Alpine:v3.17(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
curl—
  • every version up to 8.4.0-r0: fixed in 8.4.0-r0
—
Alpine:v3.18(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
curl—
  • every version up to 8.4.0-r0: fixed in 8.4.0-r0
—
Alpine:v3.19(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
curl—
  • every version up to 8.4.0-r0: fixed in 8.4.0-r0
—
Alpine:v3.20(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
curl—
  • every version up to 8.4.0-r0: fixed in 8.4.0-r0
—
Alpine:v3.21(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
curl—
  • every version up to 8.4.0-r0: fixed in 8.4.0-r0
—
Alpine:v3.22(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
curl—
  • every version up to 8.4.0-r0: fixed in 8.4.0-r0
—
Alpine:v3.23(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
curl—
  • every version up to 8.4.0-r0: fixed in 8.4.0-r0
—
Alpine:v3.24(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
curl—
  • every version up to 8.4.0-r0: fixed in 8.4.0-r0
—
Debian:11(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
curl7.74.0-1.3 ... 7.74.0-1.3+deb11u9 (11 versions)
  • every version up to 7.74.0-1.3+deb11u10: fixed in 7.74.0-1.3+deb11u10
—
Debian:12(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
curl7.88.1-10 ... 7.88.1-10+deb12u3~bpo11+1 (6 versions)
  • every version up to 7.88.1-10+deb12u4: fixed in 7.88.1-10+deb12u4
—
Debian:13(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
curl—
  • every version up to 8.3.0-3: fixed in 8.3.0-3
—
Debian:14(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
curl—
  • every version up to 8.3.0-3: fixed in 8.3.0-3
—

Weakness Classification(1)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

Additional Vendor Advisories

(6)

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 4× in last 7d / 14× in last 30d)

Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.

Showing the most recent 100 of 158 total refreshes for this CVE.

  1. 2026-10-07 23:46 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-10-06 15:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-10-04 06:04 UTCOSV refresh
  4. 2026-10-03 14:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-09-30 16:27 UTCEG score recompute
  6. 2026-09-30 15:01 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-09-24 14:01 UTCEPSS rescore
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  9. 2026-09-23 13:45 UTCEPSS rescore
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  11. 2026-09-16 14:05 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-09-14 20:14 UTCOSV refresh
  13. 2026-09-13 16:44 UTCEPSS rescore
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  23. 2026-08-26 19:46 UTCOSV refresh
  24. 2026-08-26 14:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-08-25 13:46 UTCEPSS rescore
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  1. 2026-08-24 14:14 UTCEPSS rescore
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  5. 2026-08-18 13:46 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-08-16 02:12 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-08-13 21:58 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-08-12 13:48 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-08-11 13:39 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-08-10 10:09 UTCOSV refresh
  11. 2026-08-05 19:15 UTCEPSS rescore
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  17. 2026-07-25 10:41 UTCOSV refresh
  18. 2026-07-24 14:16 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-07-23 14:16 UTCEPSS rescore
  20. 2026-07-23 14:16 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-07-23 02:25 UTCEG score recompute
  22. 2026-07-22 23:11 UTCEG score recompute
  23. 2026-07-22 14:06 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-07-21 15:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-07-21 15:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  26. 2026-07-16 17:01 UTCEPSS rescore
  27. 2026-07-15 16:56 UTCEPSS rescore
  28. 2026-07-15 16:56 UTCEPSS rescore
  29. 2026-07-14 12:10 UTCMITRE cvelistV5CVSS v3 → 8.8 · severity → HIGH
  30. 2026-07-12 05:45 UTCEPSS rescore
  31. 2026-07-09 19:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  32. 2026-07-09 19:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  33. 2026-07-08 05:05 UTCOSV refresh
  34. 2026-07-07 13:44 UTCEPSS rescore
  35. 2026-07-02 16:59 UTCEPSS rescore
  36. 2026-06-30 23:21 UTCEPSS rescore
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  48. 2026-06-19 19:24 UTCEPSS rescore
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  50. 2026-06-19 16:55 UTCOSV refresh
  51. 2026-06-17 17:51 UTCEPSS rescore
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  53. 2026-06-15 17:47 UTCEPSS rescore
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  75. 2026-06-01 13:51 UTCEPSS rescore

Publicly available exploits

(7 references)

Working exploit code is in the public domain (7 GitHub PoCs). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly — public PoCs typically lead to mass-exploitation within 24-72 hours.

  • GitHub PoCd0rb/CVE-2023-38545
    First seen Oct 17, 2023

    This script is designed to exploit a heap buffer overflow vulnerability in a socks5 proxy server.

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCbcdannyboy/CVE-2023-38545
    First seen Oct 16, 2023

    A proof of concept for testing CVE-2023-38545 against local curl

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCdbrugman/CVE-2023-38545-POC
    First seen Oct 16, 2023

    CVE-2023-38545 POC for the curl command line tool

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCfatmo666/CVE-2023-38545-libcurl-SOCKS5-heap-buffer-overflow
    First seen Oct 12, 2023

    Simple PoC causing overflow

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCimfht/CVE-2023-38545
    First seen Oct 12, 2023

    😄 CVE-2023-38545堆溢出的POC和分析文章

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCvanigori/CVE-2023-38545-sample
    First seen Oct 12, 2023

    Dockerfile containing all the necessary setup files to demo the exploit

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCUTsweetyfish/CVE-2023-38545
    First seen Oct 11, 2023

    Simple PoC causing overflow

    Open source ↗

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2023-38545?
CVE-2023-38545 is a critical vulnerability published on October 18, 2023. This flaw makes curl overflow a heap based buffer in the SOCKS5 proxy handshake. When curl is asked to pass along the host name to the SOCKS5 proxy to allow that to resolve the address instead of it getting done by curl itself, the maximum length that host name can be is 255 bytes. If the host name…
When was CVE-2023-38545 disclosed?
CVE-2023-38545 was first published on October 18, 2023, with the most recent update on July 14, 2026. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2023-38545 actively exploited?
CVE-2023-38545 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. EchelonGraph's EG-KEV model classifies it as weaponized: a functional public exploit exists. FIRST EPSS estimates a 78% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days (99th percentile of EPSS-scored CVEs).
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2023-38545?
CVE-2023-38545 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.8 (CISA-ADP / Vulnrichment enrichment; NVD's own analysis pending). EchelonGraph synthesises NVD + CISA KEV + FIRST EPSS + GHSA into a combined EG score of 9.8 (CRITICAL).
How do I remediate CVE-2023-38545?
A fix for CVE-2023-38545 is available: update to the fixed version the vendor names in its advisory. The vendor advisories EchelonGraph has for CVE-2023-38545 are linked in the Vendor Advisories panel on this page.

Dependency Blast Radius

See which npm, PyPI, Go, and Maven packages are affected by CVE-2023-38545

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