# CVE-2023-46256: PX4-Autopilot Heap Buffer Overflow Bug

> A heap buffer overflow in PX4-Autopilot allows malicious applications to write arbitrary data to memory, potentially causing unexpected drone behavior or code execution.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.4 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:N/A:L`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 31 Oct 2023
- **Updated:** 5 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-5hvv-q2r5-rppw

## What is CVE-2023-46256?

CVE-2023-46256 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in PX4-Autopilot, published on 31 Oct 2023. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

PX4-Autopilot provides PX4 flight control solution for drones. In versions 1.14.0-rc1 and prior, PX4-Autopilot has a heap buffer overflow vulnerability in the parser function due to the absence of `parserbuf_index` value checking. A malfunction of the sensor device can cause a heap buffer overflow with leading unexpected drone behavior. Malicious applications can exploit the vulnerability even if device sensor malfunction does not occur. Up to the maximum value of an `unsigned int`, bytes sized data can be written to the heap memory area. As of time of publication, no fixed version is available.

Weakness: CWE-787 (Out-of-bounds Write), CWE-122 (Heap-based Buffer Overflow), CWE-120 (Buffer Copy without Checking Size of Input)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-46256?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Dronecode Px4 Drone Autopilot.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-46256?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-46256 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-46256 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2023-46256 exists.

## Other vulnerabilities in PX4-Autopilot

- [CVE-2026-26741](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-26741/): Business logic in n/a (high 8.1)
- [CVE-2026-26742](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-26742/): Security feature bypass in n/a (high 8.1)
- [CVE-2024-40427](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-40427/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 7.9)
- [CVE-2026-32708](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-32708/): Zenoh uORB Subscriber Allows Arbitrary Stack Allocation (PX4/PX4-Autopilot) (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2024-38952](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-38952/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-46256 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-46256 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in PX4-Autopilot, published on 31 Oct 2023. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2023-46256 exists.

Affected product: PX4-Autopilot. 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-2023-46256/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-46256/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-46256
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-46256
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-46256

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-46256/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.