7.8

CVE-2023-29491: invisible-island ncurses Out-of-bounds Write

Modified
AliasesALPINE-CVE-2023-29491MGASA-2024-0065SUSE-SU-2023:2111-1
Published 14-04-2023Last modified 14-10-2026

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2023-29491 is a high (CVSS 7.8) Out-of-bounds Write vulnerability in invisible-island ncurses. EPSS estimates a 0.98% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 62.2% of scored vulnerabilities. 1 public exploit is recorded.

Priority
Prioritisepublic exploit

Public exploit (reference, Date unknown)

Source freshness unavailable

How is this decided?
CVSS score
7.8/10
010
High · v3.1 (NVD)
EPSS score
0.98%
0%100%
Low · +0.05 pp in 30 days
KEVNot listedNot listed by any tracked catalog.
RansomwareNot flaggedNo ransomware use recorded.
Public exploits1reference

Advisory lineage

Upstream 0 · Downstream 2 · Related 1
DLA-3682-1USN-6099-1

Timeline

  1. 14-04-2023
    PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
  2. 14-10-2026
    Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

ncurses before 6.4 20230408, when used by a setuid application, allows local users to trigger security-relevant memory corruption via malformed data in a terminfo database file that is found in $HOME/.terminfo or reached via the TERMINFO or TERM environment variable.

CVSS metrics

5 scores · 5 sources · 1 version

EPSS trend

Probability

0.98%

Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days

Percentile

62%

Versus all other CVEs

30-day change

Increase +0.05 pp

From 0.93% on 04-10-2026

04-10-202603-11-2026

Known exploited

Compare KEV catalogs
CISA KEV

Not in the CISA KEV catalog.

ENISA CNW

Not in the ENISA CNW catalog.

CIRCL

Not in the CIRCL catalog.

Public exploits

1 found
  • referenceUnverified

    Exploit Reference (openwall.com)

    Maturity: unknown

Weaknesses

CWE · root cause

Affected systems

Version check

Known conditions: local access, low-privilege account, no user interaction (CVSS vector). Other conditions: not stated in public data.

Redhat12 products
  • ncurses< 0:6.1-9.20180224.el8_8.1 | < 0:6.2-10.20210508.el9 | < 0:6.2-8.20210508.el9_2.1 | < 0:6.1-9.20180224.el8_6.1
  • ncurses-base< 0:6.1-9.20180224.el8_8.1 | < 0:6.2-10.20210508.el9 | < 0:6.2-8.20210508.el9_2.1 | < 0:6.1-9.20180224.el8_6.1
  • ncurses-c++-libs< 0:6.1-9.20180224.el8_8.1 | < 0:6.2-10.20210508.el9 | < 0:6.2-8.20210508.el9_2.1 | < 0:6.1-9.20180224.el8_6.1
  • ncurses-c++-libs-debuginfo< 0:6.1-9.20180224.el8_8.1 | < 0:6.2-10.20210508.el9 | < 0:6.2-8.20210508.el9_2.1 | < 0:6.1-9.20180224.el8_6.1
  • ncurses-compat-libs< 0:6.1-9.20180224.el8_8.1 | < 0:6.1-9.20180224.el8_6.1
Suse11 products
  • ncurses&distro=SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.1< 6.1-150000.5.15.1
  • ncurses&distro=SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.2< 6.1-150000.5.15.1
  • ncurses&distro=SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.3< 6.1-150000.5.15.1
  • ncurses&distro=SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.4< 6.1-150000.5.15.1
  • ncurses&distro=SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP4< 6.1-150000.5.15.1
Opensuse2 products
  • ncurses&distro=openSUSE Leap 15.4< 6.1-150000.5.15.1
  • ncurses&distro=openSUSE Leap Micro 5.3< 6.1-150000.5.15.1
Alpine1 product
  • ncurses< 6.3_p20211120-r2 | < 6.3_p20220521-r1 | < 6.3_p20221119-r1 | < 6.4_p20230424-r0
Debian1 product
  • ncurses< 6.4-3
Invisible-island1 product
Mageia1 product
  • ncurses< 6.3-20221203.2.1.mga9
Ubuntu1 product
  • ncurses< 5.9+20140118-1ubuntu1+esm3 | < 6.0+20160213-1ubuntu1+esm3 | < 6.1-1ubuntu1.18.04.1 | < 6.2-0ubuntu2.1 | < 6.3-2ubuntu0.1

8 vendors · 30 products

References

42 links
Show all 42 references