Process crash via unchecked constructor result
Published Sep 23, 2022 · Updated May 27, 2025
Denial of service in PBC through 2022-08-27 allows remote attackers to crash a consuming process via crafted protobuf data. The bundled test path continues after pbc_wmessage_new returns NULL and passes the invalid object to pbc_wmessage_integer, which reads address zero. Exploitation requires a consumer to process attacker-controlled protobuf input without checking the constructor result; the demonstrated consequence is process termination.
Summary
What happened
Denial of service in PBC through 2022-08-27 allows remote attackers to crash a consuming process via crafted protobuf data. The bundled test path continues after pbc_wmessage_new returns NULL and passes the invalid object to pbc_wmessage_integer, which reads address zero. Exploitation requires a consumer to process attacker-controlled protobuf input without checking the constructor result; the demonstrated consequence is process termination.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2022-38936
- Published
- Sep 23, 2022
- Updated
- May 27, 2025
- Vendor
- Unknown vendor
- Product
- Unknown product
- Classifications
- CWE-252, T1499
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 23, 2022CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 27, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Affected products and versions are unavailable in this record.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Public exploit references
- pbc_wmessage_integer_testcaseproof of concept · demonstrated
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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