CVE-2023-40890

CRITICALNVD 9.89.8—
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence

Score 9.8 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: CRITICAL) published 2023-08-29. NVD baseline CVSS 9.8; sources differ by 0.0.

Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: epss, ghsa, nvd
9.8EG
EchelonGraph verdictPlan a fixSerious severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet.
  • High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 2%CVSS: 9.8Exploit: None knownExposed: 0

A fix is available — apply it.

A stack-based buffer overflow vulnerability exists in the lookup_sequence function of ZBar 0.23.90. Specially crafted QR codes may lead to information disclosure and/or arbitrary code execution. To trigger this vulnerability, an attacker can digitally input the malicious QR code, or prepare it to be physically scanned by the vulnerable scanner.

CVSS v3
9.8
EG Score
9.8(medium)
EG Risk
60(Track)
EG Risk 60/100SSVC: Track

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%
Exploitation2% × 40%
Automatability100% × 15%
Action: Routine — remediate on your standard cadence.
EPSS PROB
2%
EPSS %ILE
76%
KEV
Not listed

Published

August 29, 2023

Last Modified

November 4, 2025

Advisory Details (5)

Auto-updated Aug 5, 2026
Patch available.
generic

[SECURITY] Fedora 39 Update: zbar-0.23.93-1.fc39 - package-announce - Fedora mailing-lists

https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/DC7V5YCLCPB36J2KY6WLZCABFLBRB665/
generic

[SECURITY] Fedora 39 Update: zbar-0.23.93-1.fc39 - package-announce - Fedora mailing-lists

https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/DC7V5YCLCPB36J2KY6WLZCABFLBRB665/
generic

[SECURITY] Fedora 38 Update: zbar-0.23.93-1.fc38 - package-announce - Fedora mailing-lists

https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/25LZZQJGGZRPLKTRNRNOTAFQJIPS7WRP/
generic Patch Available

[SECURITY] [DLA 3675-1] zbar security update

https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2023/12/msg00001.html
generic

ZBar Stack-based Buffer Overflow Vulnerability - HackMD

https://hackmd.io/%40cspl/H1PxPAUnn

Patch Availability(1)

Vendor / EcosystemFixed in / PatchReleasedSource
ubuntuzbar-tools (0.10+doc-10ubuntu1+esm1) @ xenial2026-05-24ubuntu

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

(5 across 5 ecosystems)
Debian:10(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
zbar0.22-10.22-1+deb10u1—
Debian:11(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
zbar0.23.90-10.23.90-1+deb11u1—
Debian:12(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
zbar0.23.92-70.23.92-7+deb12u1—
Debian:13(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
zbar—0.23.92-9—
Debian:14(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
zbar—0.23.92-9—

Weakness Classification(1)

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

All Vendor Advisories

(1)

Every vendor that published an advisory referencing this CVE — pulled from our cve_vendor_advisories aggregation. Click any row for the vendor's original advisory page.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 7× in last 7d / 46× 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 136 total refreshes for this CVE.

  1. 2026-08-09 13:44 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-08-09 13:44 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-08-08 16:35 UTCEPSS rescore
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  10. 2026-08-02 03:47 UTCOSV refresh
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  1. 2026-07-23 14:16 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-07-23 02:25 UTCEG score recompute
  3. 2026-07-22 23:12 UTCEG score recompute
  4. 2026-07-22 14:06 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-07-21 15:23 UTCEPSS rescore
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  16. 2026-07-15 11:19 UTCOSV refresh
  17. 2026-07-15 01:58 UTCEPSS rescore
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  24. 2026-07-11 08:26 UTCEPSS rescore
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  26. 2026-07-09 19:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  27. 2026-07-08 15:13 UTCEPSS rescore
  28. 2026-07-07 13:44 UTCEPSS rescore
  29. 2026-07-06 16:26 UTCEPSS rescore
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  40. 2026-06-28 04:55 UTCEPSS rescore
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  42. 2026-06-27 11:34 UTCOSV refresh
  43. 2026-06-27 03:07 UTCEPSS rescore
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  45. 2026-06-25 13:48 UTCEPSS rescore
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  49. 2026-06-23 21:31 UTCEPSS rescore
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  73. 2026-06-10 22:17 UTCEPSS rescore
  74. 2026-06-10 13:21 UTCEPSS rescore
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Related CVEs(same vendor + same CWE)

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2023-40890?
CVE-2023-40890 is a critical vulnerability published on August 29, 2023. A stack-based buffer overflow vulnerability exists in the lookup_sequence function of ZBar 0.23.90. Specially crafted QR codes may lead to information disclosure and/or arbitrary code execution. To trigger this vulnerability, an attacker can digitally input the malicious QR code, or prepare it to…
When was CVE-2023-40890 disclosed?
CVE-2023-40890 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on August 29, 2023, with the most recent update on November 4, 2025. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2023-40890 actively exploited?
CVE-2023-40890 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, which ranks it in the top 23.8% of all scored CVEs.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2023-40890?
CVE-2023-40890 has a CVSS v3 base score of 9.8 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2023-40890?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2023-40890, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

Dependency Blast Radius

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