CVE-2023-28096 | OpenSIPS has memory leak in cJSON lib

OpenSIPS, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) server implementation, has a memory leak starting in the 2.3 branch and priot to versions 3.1.8 and 3.2.5. The memory leak was detected in the function `parse_mi_request` while performing coverage-guided fuzzing. This issue can be reproduced by sending multiple requests of the form `{"jsonrpc": "2.0","method": "log_le`. This malformed message was tested against an instance of OpenSIPS via FIFO transport layer and was found to increase the memory consumption over time. To abuse this memory leak, attackers need to reach the management interface (MI) which typically should only be exposed on trusted interfaces. In cases where the MI is exposed to the internet without authentication, abuse of this issue will lead to memory exhaustion which may affect the underlying system’s availability. No authentication is typically required to reproduce this issue. On the other hand, memory leaks may occur in other areas of OpenSIPS where the cJSON library is used for parsing JSON objects. The issue has been fixed in versions 3.1.8 and 3.2.5.

Published: 2023-03-15 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2023-28096 is rated Moderate Risk (45.5/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.98%). Mandatory action: Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-28096

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 2026-03-17 0.29% 0.98% +0.69%
2 2025-12-08 0.23% 0.29% +0.06%
3 2025-11-21 0.23%

Full EPSS history (9 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-28096

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
4.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:R/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:H)
They need powerful rights—admin, root, or similar—before this pays off.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
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.
0.9 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-2023-28096

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-28096

vendor priority summary link
ubuntu medium CVE-2023-28096 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (opensips), 7 status rows across 7 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, kinetic, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 3, ignored 2, needs-triage 2. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-28096

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-28096

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
opensips opensips < 3.1.8 cpe:2.3:a:opensips:opensips:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
opensips opensips >= 3.2.0, < 3.2.5 cpe:2.3:a:opensips:opensips:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-28096

cvelogic Threat Intelligence