# CVE-2023-24056: Denial of service in n/a

> An attacker can cause a denial of service in pkgconf by providing a malicious .pc file that triggers unbounded string expansion.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 22 Jan 2023
- **Updated:** 2 Apr 2025
- **Also known as:** ALPINE-CVE-2023-24056, AZL-13124, CLEANSTART-2024-KI01619, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-24056, GHSA-6rfm-3v66-6wr2, MGASA-2023-0077, OESA-2023-1046, SUSE-SU-2023:0611-1, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-24056, openSUSE-SU-2023:0043-1, openSUSE-SU-2024:12653-1

## What is CVE-2023-24056?

CVE-2023-24056 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in n/a, published on 22 Jan 2023. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

In pkgconf through 1.9.3, variable duplication can cause unbounded string expansion due to incorrect checks in libpkgconf/tuple.c:pkgconf_tuple_parse. For example, a .pc file containing a few hundred bytes can expand to one billion bytes.

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

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-24056?

It affects 1 product.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `pkgconf` | SUSE:Package Hub 15 SP3 | All versions | 1.5.3-bp153.2.3.1 |
| `pkgconf` | openSUSE:Leap 15.3 | All versions | 1.5.3-bp153.2.3.1 |
| `pkgconf` | openSUSE:Leap 15.4 | All versions | 1.8.0-150400.3.3.1 |

Products: Pkgconf Pkgconf.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-24056?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2023-24056 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-24056 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2018-1000221](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-1000221/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-24056 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-24056 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in n/a, published on 22 Jan 2023. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-24056 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-2023-24056/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-24056/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-24056
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-24056
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-24056

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-24056/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.