# CVE-2023-41038: Server crash when using specific form of SET BIND statement

> A non-privileged user can crash the Firebird database server by executing a SET BIND statement with a long CHAR length, causing stack corruption.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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:** 20 Mar 2024
- **Updated:** 13 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-6fv8-8rwr-9692, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-41038

## What is CVE-2023-41038?

CVE-2023-41038 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in FirebirdSQL firebird, published on 20 Mar 2024. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Firebird is a relational database. Versions 4.0.0 through 4.0.3 and version 5.0 beta1 are vulnerable to a server crash when a user uses a specific form of SET BIND statement. Any non-privileged user with minimum access to a server may type a statement with a long `CHAR` length, which causes the server to crash due to stack corruption. Versions 4.0.4.2981 and 5.0.0.117 contain fixes for this issue. No known workarounds are available.

Weakness: CWE-770 (Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-41038?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Firebirdsql Firebird.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-41038?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-41038 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-41038 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-41038 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in FirebirdSQL firebird

- [CVE-2026-40342](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-40342/): Firebird: Path Traversal + Arbitrary File Write Leads to Remote Code Execution (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2008-0467](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-0467/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2007-4992](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2007-4992/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2007-5245](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2007-5245/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2007-5246](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2007-5246/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-41038 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-41038 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in FirebirdSQL firebird, published on 20 Mar 2024. 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-2023-41038 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: FirebirdSQL firebird. 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-2023-41038/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-41038/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-41038
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-41038
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-41038

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-41038/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.