CVE-2023-38623: Severe Integer Overflow Vulnerabilities in GTKWave 3.3.115

Overview

A recent vulnerability, identified as CVE-2023-38623, has been discovered in the GTKWave 3.3.115 software that could potentially allow cybercriminals to execute arbitrary code. GTKWave is a popular open-source waveform viewer that is used in a variety of industries for the analysis and simulation of digital systems. The vulnerability specifically targets the VZT facgeometry parsing functionality of the software. This issue is of significant concern as it could lead to system compromise or data leakage if successfully exploited.

Vulnerability Summary

CVE ID: CVE-2023-38623
Severity: High (7.8)
Attack Vector: Opening a malicious .vzt file
Privileges Required: User
User Interaction: Required
Impact: System compromise or data leakage

Affected Products

Product | Affected Versions

GTKWave | 3.3.115

How the Exploit Works

The exploit works by abusing multiple integer overflow vulnerabilities found in the VZT facgeometry parsing functionality of GTKWave 3.3.115. The attacker crafts a malicious .vzt file that, when opened by the victim, leads to an integer overflow when allocating the `vindex_offset` array. This overflow can subsequently lead to arbitrary code execution.

Conceptual Example Code

Below is a conceptual example of how the vulnerability might be exploited. This pseudocode represents the creation of a malicious .vzt file:

# Create a specially crafted .vzt file
with open('malicious.vzt', 'w') as file:
# Write data that causes an integer overflow in the vindex_offset array
file.write('OVERFLOW_DATA')

In this example, the ‘OVERFLOW_DATA’ is specifically designed to cause an integer overflow when the file is opened with GTKWave. The exact nature of this data would depend on the specific details of the vulnerability, but it would be crafted to cause an integer overflow when parsed by the VZT facgeometry parsing functionality, leading to arbitrary code execution.

Mitigation

Users of the affected GTKWave version are strongly advised to apply the vendor patch as soon as it becomes available. In the meantime, the use of a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) may provide temporary mitigation. Always exercise caution when opening files from unknown sources, and maintain up-to-date antivirus and antimalware solutions.