CVE-2023-7256 | Double-free in libpcap before 1.10.5 with remote packet capture support.

In affected libpcap versions during the setup of a remote packet capture the internal function sock_initaddress() calls getaddrinfo() and possibly freeaddrinfo(), but does not clearly indicate to the caller function whether freeaddrinfo() still remains to be called after the function returns. This makes it possible in some scenarios that both the function and its caller call freeaddrinfo() for the same allocated memory block. A similar problem was reported in Apple libpcap, to which Apple assigned CVE-2023-40400.

Published: 2024-08-30 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2023-7256 is rated Low Risk (22.1/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.22%). 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-2023-7256

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 2026-06-15 0.01% 0.22% +0.21%
2 2025-11-21 0.07% 0.01% -0.05%
3 2025-11-18 — 0.07% —

Full EPSS history (8 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-7256

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
4.4 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H 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:H)
They need powerful rights—admin, root, or similar—before this pays off.
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.
 0.8 3.6 [email protected]
4.4 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H 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:H)
They need powerful rights—admin, root, or similar—before this pays off.
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.
 0.8 3.6 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-7256

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-7256

vendor priority summary link
alpine medium CVE-2023-7256: 1 source package rows (libpcap); 4 state rows across 4 repos (3.17-main, 3.18-main, 3.19-main, 3.20-main); fixed 0, open 4. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2023-7256
debian unimportant CVE-2023-7256 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (libpcap), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 3, open 2. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-7256
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-7256
suse medium CVE-2023-7256 severity moderate: SUSE including 266 source package names (13.2-3.13.33:libpcap1-1.9.1-150300.3.3.1, 13.2-3.5.37:libpcap1-1.10.1-150400.3.3.2, …), 482 product×package rows across 228 product lines (Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/baremetal-os-container, Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/base-os-container, … (228 product lines)): Fixed 257, Known Affected 216, Will Not Fix 9. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-7256/
ubuntu medium CVE-2023-7256 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (libpcap), 7 status rows across 7 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 6, released 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-7256

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-7256

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
tcpdump libpcap < 1.10.5 cpe:2.3:a:tcpdump:libpcap:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-7256

cvelogic Threat Intelligence