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Vulnerability record · CVE-2023-28116 · published 17 March 2023

CVE-2023-28116: Contiki-ng classic buffer overflow vulnerability

Contiki Ng · Contiki Ng

Contiki-NG is an open-source, cross-platform operating system for internet of things (IoT) devices. In versions 4.8 and prior, an out-of-bounds write can occur in the BLE L2CAP module of the Contiki-NG operating system. The network stack of Contiki-NG uses a global buffer (packetbuf) for processing of packets, with the size of PACKETBUF_SIZE. In particular, when using the BLE L2CAP module with the default configuration, the PACKETBUF_SIZE value becomes larger then the actual size of the packetbuf. When large packets are processed by the L2CAP module, a buffer overflow can therefore occur when copying the packet data to the packetbuf. The vulnerability has been patched in the "develop" branch of Contiki-NG, and will be included in release 4.9. The problem can be worked around by applying the patch manually.

9.8 CVSS 3.1 Critical EPSS 0.69% · top 49.3% CWE-120 · Classic buffer overflowCWE-787 · Out-of-bounds write
9.8CVSS 3.1 base score
0.69%EPSS exploitation probability, 30 days
NoNot in CISA KEV
1Affected product versions listed by NVD
4References
17 Jun 2026Last modified by NVD

Description

Contiki-NG is an open-source, cross-platform operating system for internet of things (IoT) devices. In versions 4.8 and prior, an out-of-bounds write can occur in the BLE L2CAP module of the Contiki-NG operating system. The network stack of Contiki-NG uses a global buffer (packetbuf) for processing of packets, with the size of PACKETBUF_SIZE. In particular, when using the BLE L2CAP module with the default configuration, the PACKETBUF_SIZE value becomes larger then the actual size of the packetbuf. When large packets are processed by the L2CAP module, a buffer overflow can therefore occur when copying the packet data to the packetbuf. The vulnerability has been patched in the "develop" branch of Contiki-NG, and will be included in release 4.9. The problem can be worked around by applying the patch manually.

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected products

1 vulnerable configurations from NVD's CPE data, grouped by vendor and product.

References

LinkTags
https://github.com/contiki-ng/contiki-ng/pull/2398 Issue TrackingPatch
https://github.com/contiki-ng/contiki-ng/security/advisories/GHSA-m737-4vx6-pfqp PatchVendor Advisory
https://github.com/contiki-ng/contiki-ng/pull/2398 Issue TrackingPatch
https://github.com/contiki-ng/contiki-ng/security/advisories/GHSA-m737-4vx6-pfqp PatchVendor Advisory

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Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database (record CVE-2023-28116), CISA KEV, FIRST EPSS (scores of 2026-09-27). This page is refreshed as NVD updates the record.