{"id":36912,"date":"2025-05-10T18:05:35","date_gmt":"2025-05-10T18:05:35","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-05-30T13:06:31","modified_gmt":"2025-05-30T19:06:31","slug":"cve-2023-37577-code-execution-vulnerability-in-gtkwave-3-3-115","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2023-37577-code-execution-vulnerability-in-gtkwave-3-3-115\/","title":{"rendered":"<strong>CVE-2023-37577: Code Execution Vulnerability in GTKWave 3.3.115<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) system has recently identified a high-severity vulnerability, CVE-2023-37577, in the popular GTKWave open-source waveform viewer version 3.3.115. This vulnerability, which involves multiple use-after-free issues, affects users who open specially crafted .vcd files and can lead to arbitrary code execution. Given the widespread use of waveform viewers in diverse industries such as electronics and software development, this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-31637-high-risk-sql-injection-vulnerability-in-lambertgroup-shout\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"51875\">vulnerability carries significant risk<\/a> and warrants immediate attention.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Vulnerability Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>CVE ID: CVE-2023-37577<br \/>\nSeverity: High (CVSS 7.8)<br \/>\nAttack Vector: Opening a malicious .vcd file<br \/>\nPrivileges Required: None<br \/>\nUser Interaction: Required<br \/>\nImpact: Arbitrary <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-32444-remote-code-execution-vulnerability-in-vllm-integration-with-mooncake\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"41859\">code execution<\/a> leading to potential system compromise or data leakage<\/p>\n<p><strong>Affected Products<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-737130435\" class=\"ameeb-content-2 ameeb-entity-placement\"><div style=\"border-left: 4px solid #555; padding-left: 20px; margin: 48px 0; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; color: #ffffff; line-height: 1.6; max-width: 720px;\">\r\n  <h2 style=\"margin-top: 0; font-size: 22px; font-weight: 600; display: flex; align-items: center; letter-spacing: -0.02em;\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"display: inline-flex; align-items: center; margin-right: 10px;\">\r\n      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Best-App-icon-Ameeba.png\" alt=\"Ameeba Chat Icon\" style=\"width: 42px; height: 42px;\" \/>\r\n    <\/a>\r\n    Share secrets securely\r\n  <\/h2>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 14px; color: #d1d5db;\">\r\n    Ameeba is private infrastructure for communication and sensitive work built on encrypted identity instead of exposed corporate identity systems.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 18px; color: #a1a1aa;\">\r\n    Passwords, credentials, confidential files, screenshots, internal discussions, sensitive AI context, and private coordination should not become exposed across ordinary communication platforms.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <ul style=\"list-style: none; padding-left: 0; margin-bottom: 24px; color: #e4e4e7;\">\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 Encrypted identity<\/li>\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 Private Spaces for organizations and teams<\/li>\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 End-to-end encrypted chat, calls, files, and notes<\/li>\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 Sensitive AI work and protected collaboration<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Built for information that cannot leak<\/li>\r\n  <\/ul>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"font-style: italic; font-weight: 600; margin-bottom: 24px; color: #ffffff;\">\r\n    Our mission is to secure human work alongside AI.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <div style=\"display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; gap: 12px;\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\/download\" style=\"background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; padding: 10px 20px; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 8px; font-weight: 500;\">\r\n      Download Ameeba\r\n    <\/a>\r\n\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"border: 1px solid #ffffff; color: #ffffff; padding: 10px 20px; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 8px; font-weight: 500;\">\r\n      Learn More\r\n    <\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>Product | Affected Versions<\/p>\n<p>GTKWave | 3.3.115<\/p>\n<p><strong>How the Exploit Works<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2023-35703-stack-based-buffer-overflow-vulnerability-in-gtkwave-3-3-115\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"41718\">vulnerability exists in the VCD get_vartoken realloc functionality of GTKWave<\/a> 3.3.115. When a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-46827-graylog-open-log-management-platform-user-session-cookie-exposure\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"51876\">user opens<\/a> a specially crafted .vcd file, the program wrongly reallocates memory for certain objects, which can then be freed while still in use. This creates &#8216;dangling pointers,&#8217; referencing memory that has been freed or reallocated. An attacker can exploit these <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-1290-high-severity-race-condition-use-after-free-vulnerability-in-kernel-5-4-on-chromeos\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"41764\">use-after-free vulnerabilities<\/a> to cause the program to execute arbitrary code, potentially compromising the system or leaking sensitive data.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conceptual Example Code<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-3629128817\" class=\"ameeb-content ameeb-entity-placement\"><div class=\"poptin-embedded\" data-id=\"f6b387694f681\"><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/div>\n<p>Below is a conceptual representation of how the malicious .vcd file might be structured. This example is only intended to provide a high-level understanding of the exploit and is not a functioning exploit.<\/p>\n<pre><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">\/\/ Malicious .vcd file pseudocode\nBEGIN_VCD\nVERSION &quot;GTKWave 3.3.115&quot;\nTIMESCALE 1ns\nSCOPE module top\nVAR wire 1 ! clk\nVAR wire 1 &quot; data\nUPSCOPE\nEND\n$dumpvars\n0!\n0&quot;<\/code><\/pre>\n<p>In this example, the malicious .vcd file is crafted in a way that causes the VCD get_vartoken realloc functionality to create a use-after-free condition, which can then be exploited to execute <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2023-35995-gtkwave-array-index-validation-vulnerability-leading-to-arbitrary-code-execution\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"42004\">arbitrary code<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mitigation<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Users are advised to apply the vendor patch as soon as it becomes available. Until then, using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can serve as temporary mitigation, potentially <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2023-35989-integer-overflow-vulnerability-in-gtkwave-s-lxt2-zlib-block-allocation\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"41950\">blocking or detecting attempts to exploit this vulnerability<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overview The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) system has recently identified a high-severity vulnerability, CVE-2023-37577, in the popular GTKWave open-source waveform viewer version 3.3.115. This vulnerability, which involves multiple use-after-free issues, affects users who open specially crafted .vcd files and can lead to arbitrary code execution. Given the widespread use of waveform viewers in diverse [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"vendor":[],"product":[],"attack_vector":[80],"asset_type":[],"severity":[],"exploit_status":[],"class_list":["post-36912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","attack_vector-rce"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36912"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36912\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46425,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36912\/revisions\/46425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36912"},{"taxonomy":"vendor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vendor?post=36912"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=36912"},{"taxonomy":"attack_vector","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/attack_vector?post=36912"},{"taxonomy":"asset_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/asset_type?post=36912"},{"taxonomy":"severity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/severity?post=36912"},{"taxonomy":"exploit_status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exploit_status?post=36912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}