Heap overwrite via 32-bit length overflow
Published Jun 6, 2023 · Updated Dec 2, 2025
Integer overflow in libcap allows local users to overwrite heap memory by supplying a string near 4 GiB during 32-bit execution. The _libcap_strdup function adds header overhead to strlen(old) in a 32-bit size_t before checking the result, so the wrapped length drives an undersized allocation followed by strcpy. Reachability requires a calling process in 32-bit compatibility mode to accept an attacker-controlled string near 4 GiB; exploitation can crash or corrupt that process.
Summary
What happened
Integer overflow in libcap allows local users to overwrite heap memory by supplying a string near 4 GiB during 32-bit execution. The _libcap_strdup function adds header overhead to strlen(old) in a 32-bit size_t before checking the result, so the wrapped length drives an undersized allocation followed by strcpy. Reachability requires a calling process in 32-bit compatibility mode to accept an attacker-controlled string near 4 GiB; exploitation can crash or corrupt that process.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2023-2603
- Published
- Jun 6, 2023
- Updated
- Dec 2, 2025
- Vendor
- Andrew G. Morgan
- Product
- libcap
- Classifications
- CWE-190
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Jun 6, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Dec 2, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
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- Affected versionversion=NA
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Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
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