CVE-2023-43788 | Libxpm: out of bounds read in xpmcreatexpmimagefrombuffer()

A vulnerability was found in libXpm due to a boundary condition within the XpmCreateXpmImageFromBuffer() function. This flaw allows a local attacker to trigger an out-of-bounds read error and read the contents of memory on the system.

Published: 2023-10-10 Last update: 2025-11-04 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2023-43788 is rated Low Risk (23.7/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.02%). Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

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-2023-43788

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 2025-11-21 0.06% 0.02% -0.04%
2 2025-11-18 0.02% 0.06% +0.04%
3 2025-04-15 — 0.02% —

Full EPSS history (5 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-43788

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N 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:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 1.8 3.6 [email protected]
5.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N 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:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
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:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 1.8 3.6 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-43788

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-43788

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2023-43788: 1 source package rows (libxpm); 8 state rows across 8 repos (3.17-main, 3.18-main, 3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, 3.23-main, edge-main); fixed 6, open 2. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2023-43788
debian not yet assigned CVE-2023-43788 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (libxpm), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-43788
gentoo normal CVE-2023-43788: 1 GLSA(s) (202408-03), 1 atom(s) (x11-libs/libXpm); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2023-43788
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-43788
suse medium CVE-2023-43788 severity moderate: SUSE including 261 source package names (1.1.0-1.1:libXpm4-3.5.12-150000.3.10.1, 1.21-36.4:libXpm4-3.5.12-150000.3.10.1, …), 423 product×package rows across 133 product lines (Container private-registry/harbor-nginx, Container private-registry/harbor-portal, … (133 product lines)): Known Affected 231, Fixed 192. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-43788/
ubuntu medium CVE-2023-43788 medium priority: Ubuntu including 2 source packages (libxpm, motif), 24 status rows across 12 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 12, needs-triage 8, ignored 4. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-43788

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-43788

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
x.org libxpm < 3.5.17 cpe:2.3:a:x.org:libxpm:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 37 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:37:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 38 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:38:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 39 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:39:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux 9.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-43788

URL Tags
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:2146
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:2217
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:2974
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:3022
https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-43788 Third Party Advisory
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2242248 Issue Tracking Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2023/10/msg00005.html
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/63IBRFLQVZSMOAZBZOBKFWJP26ILRAGQ/
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/I3KFUQT42R7TB4D7RISNSBQFJGLTQGUL/
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/TFAJTBNO3PAIA6EGZR4PN62H6RLKNDTE/
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/V6FARGWN7VWXXWPXYNEEDJLRR3EWFZ3T/
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/ZECBCLDYUGLDSVV75ECPIBW7JXOB3747/
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