# CVE-2023-4163: Possible buffer overflow in portcfgfportbuffers in Brocade Fabric OS

> A local privileged user can cause a kernel panic via buffer overflow in the portcfgfportbuffers command, requiring an upgrade to Brocade Fabric OS.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.4 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 31 Aug 2023
- **Updated:** 26 Jun 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-cfpg-6fr3-9x4g

## What is CVE-2023-4163?

CVE-2023-4163 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Broadcom Fabric Operating System, published on 31 Aug 2023. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In
 Brocade Fabric OS before v9.2.0a, a local authenticated privileged user
 can trigger a buffer overflow condition, leading to a kernel panic with
 large input to buffers in the portcfgfportbuffers command.

Weakness: CWE-120 (Buffer Copy without Checking Size of Input)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-4163?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Broadcom Fabric Operating System.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-4163?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-4163 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-4163 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-4163 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Broadcom Fabric Operating System

- [CVE-2025-1976](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-1976/): Broadcom Brocade Fabric OS Code Injection (high 8.6, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2021-22555](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-22555/): Linux Kernel Heap Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.3, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-33186](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-33186/): Command injection in Brocade Fabric OS (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2021-27797](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-27797/): Hardcoded credentials in Brocade Fabric OS (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2020-15371](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-15371/): Code injection in Brocade Fabric OS (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-4163 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-4163 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Broadcom Fabric Operating System, published on 31 Aug 2023. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-4163 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Broadcom Fabric Operating System. 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-2023-4163/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-4163/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-4163
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-4163
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-4163

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-4163/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.