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CVE-2023-29491

26
FAUCET Score

CVE-2023-29491 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability affecting ncurses before version 6.4 20230408. This flaw allows a local attacker to trigger security-relevant memory corruption by providing malformed terminfo data, particularly when ncurses is used by a setuid application. With a CVSS score of 7.8 (High), successful exploitation could lead to high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impacts. There is currently no evidence of active exploitation, nor are there publicly available exploit modules or proof-of-concept code. Community discussion and media coverage indicate some awareness, but it is not on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.

Impacted Technologies

VendorProductVersion(s)CPE
< 6.4CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:a:invisible-island:ncurses:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

CVSS Data

CVSS version used by this source: 3.1

7.8HIGH

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

Attack Vector
LOCAL
Attack Complexity
LOW
Privileges Required
LOW
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality Impact
HIGH
Integrity Impact
HIGH
Availability Impact
HIGH
Exploitability Score
1.8
Impact Score
5.9
CvssVersion
3.1

Exploit Intelligence

EPSS Score
0.92%
Probability of exploitation in next 30 days
EPSS Percentile
56.7%
Percentile rank of EPSS score among Peer Group
As of 2026-07-27
Model: v2026.06.15
This CVE's current EPSS score of 0.0092 is in the 91st percentile among its peer group of 17,061 CVEs.

Social Chatter

The average CVE in this peer group has 0.0 Twitter, 0.1 Reddit, 0.2 Bluesky, 0.1 Mastodon, and 0.2 GitHub mentions.

Media Mentions

The average CVE in this peer group has 0.3 InfoSec Media, 0.0 Vendor Blog, and 0.0 Security Researcher mentions.

Remediation

Patch Available

Vendor Patches (12)

microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: cm1 ncurses 6.4-1 on CBL Mariner 1.0Fixed in: 6.4-1
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: cbl2 ncurses 6.4-1 on CBL Mariner 2.0Fixed in: 6.4-1
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: CBL Mariner 1.0 x64Fixed in: 6.4-1
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: CBL Mariner 1.0 ARMFixed in: 6.4-1
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: CBL Mariner 2.0 x64Fixed in: 6.4-1
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: CBL Mariner 2.0 ARMFixed in: 6.4-1
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: 17900-16820Fixed in: 6.4-1
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: 17901-16823Fixed in: 6.4-1
redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9Fixed in: ncurses-0:6.2-10.20210508.el9
View patch
redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.2 Extended Update SupportFixed in: ncurses-0:6.2-8.20210508.el9_2.1
View patch
redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8Fixed in: ncurses-0:6.1-9.20180224.el8_8.1
View patch
redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6 Extended Update SupportFixed in: ncurses-0:6.1-9.20180224.el8_6.1
View patch

Vendor Advisories (3)

microsoft2023-May/CVE-2023-29491

CVE-2023-29491

May 9, 2023
redhatCVE-2023-29491Moderate

ncurses: Local users can trigger security-relevant memory corruption via malformed data

Apr 12, 2023
microsoft2023-Apr/CVE-2023-29491Important

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.

Apr 11, 2023

References

lists.fedoraproject.org / archives/list/[email protected]/message/LU4MYMKFEZQ5VSCVLRIZGDQOUW3T44GT
ncurses.scripts.mit.edu
lists.debian.org / debian-lts-announce/2023/12/msg00004.html
lists.fedoraproject.org / archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/LU4MYMKFEZQ5VSCVLRIZGDQOUW3T44GT
security.netapp.com / advisory/ntap-20230517-0009
support.apple.com / kb/HT213843
support.apple.com / kb/HT213844
support.apple.com / kb/HT213845
openwall.com / lists/oss-security/2023/04/12/5
Mailing List
openwall.com / lists/oss-security/2023/04/13/4
Mailing ListPatch
openwall.com / lists/oss-security/2023/04/19/10
Mailing ListPatchThird Party Advisory
openwall.com / lists/oss-security/2023/04/19/11
ExploitMailing ListThird Party Advisory