# CVE-2023-22484: Inefficient Quadratic complexity bug in handle_pointy_brace may lead to a denial of service

> An attacker can cause denial of service in cmark-gfm by submitting input that triggers inefficient quadratic complexity during parsing.

- **Severity:** Low 3.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 23 Jan 2023
- **Updated:** 10 Mar 2025
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2023-22484, GHSA-24f7-9frr-5h2r, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-22484

## What is CVE-2023-22484?

CVE-2023-22484 is a low-severity denial of service vulnerability in github cmark-gfm, published on 23 Jan 2023. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

cmark-gfm is GitHub's fork of cmark, a CommonMark parsing and rendering library and program in C. Versions prior to 0.29.0.gfm.7 are subject to a polynomial time complexity issue in cmark-gfm that may lead to unbounded resource exhaustion and subsequent denial of service. This vulnerability has been patched in 0.29.0.gfm.7.

Weakness: CWE-407 (Inefficient Algorithmic Complexity), CWE-400 (Uncontrolled Resource Consumption)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-22484?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Github Cmark-Gfm.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-22484?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2023-22484 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2023-22484 exists.

## Other vulnerabilities in github cmark-gfm

- [CVE-2024-22051](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-22051/): CommonMarker Integer Overflow Vulnerability (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2023-37463](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-37463/): Quadratic complexity bugs may lead to a denial of service (medium 6.4)
- [CVE-2023-24824](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-24824/): Quadratic complexity may lead to a denial of service in cmark-gfm (medium 5.3)
- [CVE-2023-26485](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-26485/): Quadratic complexity may lead to a denial of service in cmark-gfm (medium 5.3)
- [CVE-2023-22485](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-22485/): cmark-gfm out-of-bounds read in validate_protocol (medium 5.3)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-22484 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-22484 is a low-severity denial of service vulnerability in github cmark-gfm, published on 23 Jan 2023. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2023-22484 exists.

Affected product: github cmark-gfm. 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-2023-22484/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-22484/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-22484
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-22484
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-22484

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-22484/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.