# CVE-2023-38502: TDengine Database Denial-of-Service

> An attacker can crash the TDengine database by submitting a nested UDF query, causing a denial of service for users.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 25 Jul 2023
- **Updated:** 10 Oct 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-w23f-r2fm-27hf

## What is CVE-2023-38502?

CVE-2023-38502 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in taosdata TDengine, published on 25 Jul 2023. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

TDengine is an open source, time-series database optimized for Internet of Things devices. Prior to version 3.0.7.1, TDengine DataBase crashes on UDF nested query. This issue affects TDengine Databases which let users connect and run arbitrary queries. Version 3.0.7.1 has a patch for this issue.

Weakness: CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-38502?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Tdengine Tdengine.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-38502?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-38502 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-38502 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2023-38502 exists.

## Other vulnerabilities in taosdata TDengine

- [CVE-2026-42542](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-42542/): TDengine has an integer underflow in uvConnMayGetUserInfo() allows unauthenticated remote crash (DoS) (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-38502 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-38502 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in taosdata TDengine, published on 25 Jul 2023. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2023-38502 exists.

Affected product: taosdata TDengine. 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-2023-38502/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-38502/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-38502
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-38502
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-38502

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-38502/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.