{"id":37012,"date":"2025-05-10T21:06:45","date_gmt":"2025-05-10T21:06:45","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-05-22T11:03:54","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T11:03:54","slug":"cve-2023-37922-arbitrary-write-vulnerabilities-in-gtkwave-s-vcd-sorted-bsearch-functionality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2023-37922-arbitrary-write-vulnerabilities-in-gtkwave-s-vcd-sorted-bsearch-functionality\/","title":{"rendered":"<strong>CVE-2023-37922: Arbitrary Write Vulnerabilities in GTKWave&#8217;s VCD Sorted bsearch Functionality<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A high severity vulnerability (CVE-2023-37922) has been discovered in the VCD sorted bsearch functionality of GTKWave 3.3.115. This vulnerability could potentially allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code on the victim&#8217;s system. With a CVSS severity score of 7.8, it&#8217;s clear that this issue could lead to serious consequences, such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-30165-potential-system-compromise-in-vllm-v0-engine\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"47487\">system compromise<\/a> or data leakage. It is especially worrisome as it solely requires the victim to open a specially crafted malicious .vcd <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-43951-local-file-inclusion-vulnerability-in-labvantage-prior-to-lv-8-8-0-13-hf6\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"41740\">file to trigger the vulnerabilities<\/a>. The broad user base of GTKWave, which is commonly used for examining and debugging digital waveforms, makes this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/eu-rolls-out-vulnerability-database-to-enhance-cybersecurity-defense\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"47486\">vulnerability a significant cybersecurity<\/a> concern.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Vulnerability Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>CVE ID: CVE-2023-37922<br \/>\nSeverity: High (CVSS: 7.8)<br \/>\nAttack Vector: Local<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=\"41878\">Code Execution<\/a>, Potential system compromise, or data leakage<\/p>\n<p><strong>Affected Products<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-3653907734\" 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: 700px;\">\r\n  <h2 style=\"margin-top: 0; font-size: 20px; font-weight: 600; display: flex; align-items: center;\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"display: inline-flex; align-items: center; margin-right: 8px;\">\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: 40px; height: 40px;\" \/>\r\n    <\/a>\r\n    A new way to communicate\r\n  <\/h2>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 12px;\">\r\n    Ameeba Chat is built on encrypted identity, not personal profiles.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 16px;\">\r\n    Message, call, share files, and coordinate with identities kept separate.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <ul style=\"list-style: none; padding-left: 0; margin-bottom: 20px;\">\r\n    <li>\u2022 Encrypted identity<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Ameeba Chat authenticates access<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Aliases and categories<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 End-to-end encrypted chat, calls, and files<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Secure notes for sensitive information<\/li>\r\n  <\/ul>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"font-style: italic; font-weight: 600; margin-bottom: 24px;\">\r\n    Private communication, rethought.\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: 6px; font-weight: 500;\">Download Ameeba Chat<\/a>\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"border: 1px solid #ffffff; color: #ffffff; padding: 10px 20px; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 6px; font-weight: 500;\">Learn More<\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/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 exploit takes advantage of multiple arbitrary write <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2023-35703-stack-based-buffer-overflow-vulnerability-in-gtkwave-3-3-115\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"41721\">vulnerabilities in the VCD sorted bsearch functionality of GTKWave<\/a>. An attacker crafts a malicious .vcd <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-1304-unauthorized-file-upload-vulnerability-in-newsblogger-wordpress-theme\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"42421\">file designed to trigger these vulnerabilities<\/a>. When the victim opens this file, the vcd2lxt2 conversion utility is invoked, which in turn triggers the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2023-37921-multiple-arbitrary-write-vulnerabilities-in-gtkwave-3-3-115\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"43048\">arbitrary write<\/a>. This allows the attacker to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2023-35996-arbitrary-code-execution-vulnerability-in-gtkwave-3-3-115\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"42046\">execute arbitrary code<\/a> on the victim&#8217;s system, potentially compromising the system or leading to data leakage.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conceptual Example Code<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-2331016494\" 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>While this example is conceptual and may not represent an actual exploit, it provides an idea of how an attacker might craft a malicious .vcd file to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-47154-exploitation-of-use-after-free-vulnerability-in-libjs-in-ladybird\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"42365\">exploit the vulnerability<\/a>:<\/p>\n<pre><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\"># Create a malicious .vcd file\necho &quot;binary_dumpfile_width 1&quot; &gt; malicious.vcd\necho &quot;$var wire 1 ! signal&quot; &gt;&gt; malicious.vcd\necho &quot;$upscope&quot; &gt;&gt; malicious.vcd\necho &quot;$enddefinitions&quot; &gt;&gt; malicious.vcd\n# Crafted payload to trigger arbitrary write\necho &quot;#1&quot; &gt;&gt; malicious.vcd\necho &quot;b1 !&quot; &gt;&gt; malicious.vcd<\/code><\/pre>\n<p>An unsuspecting user running this malicious .vcd file with vcd2lxt2 would trigger the arbitrary write vulnerabilities, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2023-35995-gtkwave-array-index-validation-vulnerability-leading-to-arbitrary-code-execution\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"42012\">leading to arbitrary code<\/a> execution.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mitigation<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In light of this vulnerability, users of GTKWave version 3.3.115 are strongly advised to apply the vendor patch as soon as it becomes available. In the meantime, using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can serve as a temporary mitigation measure. These systems can help detect and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2023-35989-integer-overflow-vulnerability-in-gtkwave-s-lxt2-zlib-block-allocation\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"41936\">block attempts to exploit this vulnerability<\/a>, reducing the risk of a successful attack.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overview A high severity vulnerability (CVE-2023-37922) has been discovered in the VCD sorted bsearch functionality of GTKWave 3.3.115. This vulnerability could potentially allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code on the victim&#8217;s system. With a CVSS severity score of 7.8, it&#8217;s clear that this issue could lead to serious consequences, such as system compromise or [&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-37012","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\/37012","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=37012"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37012\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42326,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37012\/revisions\/42326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37012"},{"taxonomy":"vendor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vendor?post=37012"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=37012"},{"taxonomy":"attack_vector","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/attack_vector?post=37012"},{"taxonomy":"asset_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/asset_type?post=37012"},{"taxonomy":"severity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/severity?post=37012"},{"taxonomy":"exploit_status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exploit_status?post=37012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}