{"id":86804,"date":"2026-03-29T09:54:44","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T09:54:44","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-30T06:00:00","slug":"cve-2023-43692-out-of-bound-read-issue-in-malwarebytes-leading-to-system-crashes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2023-43692-out-of-bound-read-issue-in-malwarebytes-leading-to-system-crashes\/","title":{"rendered":"<strong>CVE-2023-43692: Out-of-Bound Read Issue in Malwarebytes Leading to System Crashes<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This report discusses the critical vulnerability (CVE-2023-43692) identified in Malwarebytes, which specifically affects versions before 4.6.14.326 and before 5.1.5.116, as well as Nebula 2020-10-21 and later versions. The vulnerability is significant because it enables out-of-bound reads in string detection utilities, leading to potential system crashes and potential system compromise or data leakage.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Vulnerability Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>CVE ID: CVE-2023-43692<br \/>\nSeverity: High (7.5 CVSS Severity Score)<br \/>\nAttack Vector: Network<br \/>\nPrivileges Required: Low<br \/>\nUser Interaction: Required<br \/>\nImpact: System crashes, potential system compromise, and data leakage<\/p>\n<p><strong>Affected Products<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-585257040\" 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>Malwarebytes | Before 4.6.14.326<br \/>\nMalwarebytes | Before 5.1.5.116<br \/>\nNebula | 2020-10-21 and later<\/p>\n<p><strong>How the Exploit Works<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The exploit manipulates the string detection utilities of the affected Malwarebytes versions by inducing an out-of-bounds read. This mismanagement of the memory buffer can cause the system to crash, providing an opportunity for malicious actors to compromise the system or leak sensitive information.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conceptual Example Code<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-118871066\" 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>The following is a conceptual example of how the vulnerability might be exploited. This is not an actual code but a hypothetical representation to understand the nature of the exploit.<\/p>\n<pre><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">POST \/malwarebytes\/string-detection\/utilities HTTP\/1.1\nHost: target.example.com\nContent-Type: application\/octet-stream\n{ &quot;malicious_string&quot;: &quot;\u00abInvalid memory reference exceeding buffer limits\u00bb&quot; }<\/code><\/pre>\n<p>This malicious request targets the string detection utilities, causing an out-of-bounds read that could lead to system crashes.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mitigation Guidance<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Users of the affected versions of Malwarebytes and Nebula are strongly advised to apply the vendor patch. If that is not immediately possible, using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or an Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can serve as a temporary mitigation measure. However, these are just temporary solutions and may not completely protect the system from the exploit. Upgrading to a version beyond 4.6.14.326 for Malwarebytes, beyond 5.1.5.116 for Malwarebytes, or beyond 2020-10-21 for Nebula is the most reliable solution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overview This report discusses the critical vulnerability (CVE-2023-43692) identified in Malwarebytes, which specifically affects versions before 4.6.14.326 and before 5.1.5.116, as well as Nebula 2020-10-21 and later versions. The vulnerability is significant because it enables out-of-bound reads in string detection utilities, leading to potential system crashes and potential system compromise or data leakage. Vulnerability Summary [&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":[],"tags":[],"vendor":[],"product":[],"attack_vector":[],"asset_type":[],"severity":[],"exploit_status":[],"class_list":["post-86804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86804","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=86804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86804\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86804"},{"taxonomy":"vendor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vendor?post=86804"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=86804"},{"taxonomy":"attack_vector","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/attack_vector?post=86804"},{"taxonomy":"asset_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/asset_type?post=86804"},{"taxonomy":"severity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/severity?post=86804"},{"taxonomy":"exploit_status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exploit_status?post=86804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}