Application crash via stale getaddrinfo canonical-name pointer
Published Sep 18, 2023 · Updated Jul 14, 2026
Use-after-free in glibc getaddrinfo allows remote attackers to crash applications through crafted name-resolution results. During repeated NSS lookups, tmpbuf resizing can free storage still referenced by res->at->name, which getcanonname_r then dereferences. Exploitation requires an NSS module with gethostbyname2_r and getcanonname_r but not gethostbyname3_r, many IPv4 and IPv6 results, and an AF_INET6 request using AI_CANONNAME, AI_ALL, and AI_V4MAPPED.
Summary
What happened
Use-after-free in glibc getaddrinfo allows remote attackers to crash applications through crafted name-resolution results. During repeated NSS lookups, tmpbuf resizing can free storage still referenced by res->at->name, which getcanonname_r then dereferences. Exploitation requires an NSS module with gethostbyname2_r and getcanonname_r but not gethostbyname3_r, many IPv4 and IPv6 results, and an AF_INET6 request using AI_CANONNAME, AI_ALL, and AI_V4MAPPED.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2023-4806
- Published
- Sep 18, 2023
- Updated
- Jul 14, 2026
- Vendor
- Red Hat
- Product
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
- Classifications
- CWE-416, T1499
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 18, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Jul 14, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
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What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
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Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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