CVE-2023-3436 | Deadlock in Xpdf 4.04 due to PDF object stream references

Xpdf 4.04 will deadlock on a PDF object stream whose "Length" field is itself in another object stream.

Published: 2023-06-27 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2023-3436 is rated Low Risk (16/100): CVSS Low severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.04%). Low composite risk—no urgent action required; patch on your normal maintenance cycle and revisit priority if CVSS or EPSS increases.

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-2023-3436

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 2025-03-17 0.05% 0.04% -0.01%
2 2025-01-17 0.04% 0.05% +0.01%
3 2023-06-28 — 0.04% —

Full EPSS history (3 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-3436

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
3.3 3.1 LOW
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
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: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:L)
Might cause slowdowns, glitches, or partial disruption—not a full brick.
 1.8 1.4 [email protected]
3.3 3.1 LOW
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
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: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:L)
Might cause slowdowns, glitches, or partial disruption—not a full brick.
 1.8 1.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-3436

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-3436

vendor priority summary link
alpine low CVE-2023-3436: 1 source package rows (xpdf); 10 state rows across 7 repos (3.18-community, 3.19-community, 3.20-community, 3.21-community, 3.22-community, 3.23-community, edge-community); fixed 6, open 4. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2023-3436
debian unimportant CVE-2023-3436 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (xpdf), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-3436
gentoo normal CVE-2023-3436: 1 GLSA(s) (202409-25), 1 atom(s) (app-text/xpdf); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2023-3436
suse low CVE-2023-3436 severity low: SUSE including 16 source package names (libpoppler-cpp0, libpoppler-devel, …), 216 product×package rows across 37 product lines (SUSE CaaS Platform 4.0, SUSE Enterprise Storage 7, … (37 product lines)): Known Not Affected 216. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-3436/
ubuntu medium CVE-2023-3436 medium priority: Ubuntu including 2 source packages (ipe, xpdf), 26 status rows across 13 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): needs-triage 13, ignored 12, DNE 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-3436

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-3436

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
xpdfreader xpdf 4.04 cpe:2.3:a:xpdfreader:xpdf:4.04:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-3436

cvelogic Threat Intelligence