# CVE-2023-31124: AutoTools does not set CARES_RANDOM_FILE during cross compilation

> Cross-compiling c-ares with autotools may use weak random numbers, allowing attackers to predict DNS responses or bypass security checks.

- **Severity:** Low 3.7 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 25 May 2023
- **Updated:** 13 Feb 2025
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2023-31124, ECHO-8d69-487f-cac3, GHSA-54xr-f67r-4pc4

## What is CVE-2023-31124?

CVE-2023-31124 is a low-severity vulnerability in Fedoraproject Fedora, published on 25 May 2023. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

c-ares is an asynchronous resolver library. When cross-compiling c-ares and using the autotools build system, CARES_RANDOM_FILE will not be set, as seen when cross compiling aarch64 android.  This will downgrade to using rand() as a fallback which could allow an attacker to take advantage of the lack of entropy by not using a CSPRNG. This issue was patched in version 1.19.1.

Weakness: CWE-330 (Use of Insufficiently Random Values)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-31124?

It affects 2 products.


Products: C-Ares Project C-Ares, Fedoraproject Fedora.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-31124?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2023-31124 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-31124 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Fedoraproject Fedora

- [CVE-2022-4904](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-4904/): Memory corruption in c-ares (high 8.6)
- [CVE-2023-32067](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-32067/): 0-byte UDP payload DoS in c-ares (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2020-8277](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-8277/): Uncontrolled Resource Consumption in node (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2023-31147](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-31147/): Insufficient randomness in generation of DNS query IDs in c-ares (medium 5.9)
- [CVE-2021-3672](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-3672/): Other in c-ares (medium 5.6)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-31124 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-31124 is a low-severity vulnerability in Fedoraproject Fedora, published on 25 May 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-2023-31124 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Fedoraproject Fedora. 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-2023-31124/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-31124/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-31124
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-31124
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-31124

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-31124/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.