# CVE-2020-17438: Memory corruption in n/a

> Attackers can trigger memory corruption in Contiki OS via crafted IP packets, leading to denial of service or arbitrary code execution.

- **Severity:** Critical 9.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 11 Dec 2020
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-wp96-g7r8-wxf4

## What is CVE-2020-17438?

CVE-2020-17438 is a critical memory corruption vulnerability in n/a, published on 11 Dec 2020. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

An issue was discovered in uIP 1.0, as used in Contiki 3.0 and other products. The code that reassembles fragmented packets fails to properly validate the total length of an incoming packet specified in its IP header, as well as the fragmentation offset value specified in the IP header. By crafting a packet with specific values of the IP header length and the fragmentation offset, attackers can write into the .bss section of the program (past the statically allocated buffer that is used for storing the fragmented data) and cause a denial of service in uip_reass() in uip.c, or possibly execute arbitrary code on some target architectures.

Weakness: CWE-787 (Out-of-bounds Write)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-17438?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Uip Project Uip.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-17438?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2020-17438 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-17438 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2020-17439](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-17439/): Other in n/a (high 8.3)
- [CVE-2020-24334](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-24334/): Denial of service in n/a (high 8.2)
- [CVE-2020-24335](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-24335/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2020-17440](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-17440/): Null dereference in n/a (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-17438 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-17438 is a critical memory corruption vulnerability in n/a, published on 11 Dec 2020. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-17438 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: n/a. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-17438/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-17438/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-17438
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-17438
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-17438

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-17438/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.