CVE-2013-6393 Heap Based Buffer Overflow in libyaml

What is CVE-2013-6393?

CVE-2013-6393 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 6 Feb 2014. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

Official description

The yaml_parser_scan_tag_uri function in scanner.c in LibYAML before 0.1.5 performs an incorrect cast, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) and possibly execute arbitrary code via crafted tags in a YAML document, which triggers a heap-based buffer overflow.

Weakness: CWE-119

Which versions are affected by CVE-2013-6393?

2 open source packages ship an affected version, including libyaml. It affects 6 products.

Products include Canonical Ubuntu Linux, Debian Debian Linux, Opensuse Leap, Opensuse Opensuse, Pyyaml Libyaml, Redhat Openstack.

How do I fix CVE-2013-6393?

Upgrade libyaml to 0.2.3 or later.

Upgrade to the fixed version. Memory-safe languages, compiler hardening and fuzzing prevent most new cases. More about Memory corruption.

Is CVE-2013-6393 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2013-6393 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Canonical Ubuntu Linux

• CVE-2020-11651 SaltStack Salt Authentication Bypass Exploited Critical 9.8
• CVE-2020-7247 OpenSMTPD Remote Code Execution Exploited Critical 9.8
• CVE-2019-16928 Exim Out-of-bounds Write Exploited Critical 9.8
• CVE-2018-6789 Exim Buffer Overflow Exploited Critical 9.8
• CVE-2015-2590 Oracle Java SE and Java SE Embedded Remote Code Execution Exploited Critical 9.8

All Canonical Ubuntu Linux vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2013-6393, DSA-2850-1, DSA-2870-1, GHSA-m75h-cghq-c8h5, MGASA-2014-0040.