CVE-2023-23626 | Denial of service when feeding malformed size arguments in go-bitfield

Exp

go-bitfield is a simple bitfield package for the go language aiming to be more performant that the standard library. When feeding untrusted user input into the size parameter of `NewBitfield` and `FromBytes` functions, an attacker can trigger `panic`s. This happen when the `size` is a not a multiple of `8` or is negative. There were already a note in the `NewBitfield` documentation, however known users of this package are subject to this issue. Users are advised to upgrade. Users unable to upgrade should ensure that `size` is a multiple of 8 before calling `NewBitfield` or `FromBytes`.

Published: 2023-02-09 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2023-23626 is rated High Exploit Risk (61.6/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.49%). Core evidence: 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Mandatory action: Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2023-23626

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-23626

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-02-11 0.22% 0.49% +0.27%
2 2025-11-21 0.44% 0.22% -0.21%
3 2025-11-18 0.44%

Full EPSS history (7 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-23626

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.9 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
2.2 3.6 [email protected]
7.5 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
3.9 3.6 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-23626

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2023-23626

GHSA-2h6c-j3gf-xp9r · Severity: medium · Ecosystem: go — IPFS go-bitfield vulnerable to DoS via malformed size arguments

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-23626

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
protocol go-bitfield < 1.1.0 cpe:2.3:a:protocol:go-bitfield:*:*:*:*:*:go:*:*

References for CVE-2023-23626

cvelogic Threat Intelligence