# CVE-2023-28116: Buffer overflow in L2CAP due to misconfigured MTU

> An out-of-bounds write in the BLE L2CAP module allows attackers to cause buffer overflows via large packets, potentially leading to code execution or crashes.

- **Severity:** High 8.1 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/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:** No
- **Published:** 17 Mar 2023
- **Updated:** 25 Feb 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-m737-4vx6-pfqp

## What is CVE-2023-28116?

CVE-2023-28116 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in contiki-ng, published on 17 Mar 2023. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Contiki-NG is an open-source, cross-platform operating system for internet of things (IoT) devices. In versions 4.8 and prior, an out-of-bounds write can occur in the BLE L2CAP module of the Contiki-NG operating system.  The network stack of Contiki-NG uses a global buffer (packetbuf) for processing of packets, with the size of PACKETBUF_SIZE. In particular, when using the BLE L2CAP module with the default configuration, the PACKETBUF_SIZE value becomes larger then the actual size of the packetbuf.  When large packets are processed by the L2CAP module, a buffer overflow can therefore occur when copying the packet data to the packetbuf. The vulnerability has been patched in the "develop" branch of Contiki-NG, and will be included in release 4.9. The problem can be worked around by applying the patch manually.

Weakness: CWE-787 (Out-of-bounds Write), CWE-120 (Buffer Copy without Checking Size of Input)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-28116?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Contiki-Ng Contiki-Ng.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-28116?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-28116 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-28116 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-28116 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in contiki-ng

- [CVE-2018-19417](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-19417/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2023-30546](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-30546/): Contiki-NG has off-by-one error in Antelope DBMS (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2020-24336](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-24336/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2020-14934](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-14934/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2020-14935](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-14935/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-28116 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-28116 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in contiki-ng, published on 17 Mar 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-2023-28116 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: contiki-ng. 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-2023-28116/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-28116/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-28116
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-28116
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-28116

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-28116/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.