# CVE-2023-25139: Memory corruption in n/a

> A buffer overflow in glibc sprintf allows attackers to write beyond bounds when formatting padded numbers, potentially leading to code execution or crashes.

- **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:** 3 Feb 2023
- **Updated:** 14 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** ALPINE-CVE-2023-25139, BELL-CVE-2023-25139, CLEANSTART-2023-PY66778, GHSA-2g67-jw5m-244m, openSUSE-SU-2024:13123-1

## What is CVE-2023-25139?

CVE-2023-25139 is a critical memory corruption vulnerability in Gnu Glibc, published on 3 Feb 2023. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

sprintf in the GNU C Library (glibc) 2.37 has a buffer overflow (out-of-bounds write) in some situations with a correct buffer size. This is unrelated to CWE-676. It may write beyond the bounds of the destination buffer when attempting to write a padded, thousands-separated string representation of a number, if the buffer is allocated the exact size required to represent that number as a string. For example, 1,234,567 (with padding to 13) overflows by two bytes.

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

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-25139?

It affects 1 product.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `glibc` | openSUSE:Tumbleweed | All versions | 2.38-1.1 |

Products: Gnu Glibc.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-25139?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-25139 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-25139 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Gnu Glibc

- [CVE-2026-5450](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-5450/): scanf %mc off-by-one heap buffer overflow (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-1999-0199](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-1999-0199/): Other in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2019-1010022](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-1010022/): Security feature bypass in glibc (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2005-3590](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2005-3590/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2017-18269](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-18269/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-25139 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-25139 is a critical memory corruption vulnerability in Gnu Glibc, published on 3 Feb 2023. 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-2023-25139 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Gnu Glibc. 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-2023-25139/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-25139/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-25139
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-25139
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-25139

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-25139/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.