{"id":"UBUNTU-CVE-2023-23916","details":"An allocation of resources without limits or throttling vulnerability exists in curl \u003cv7.88.0 based on the \"chained\" HTTP compression algorithms, meaning that a server response can be compressed multiple times and potentially with differentalgorithms. The number of acceptable \"links\" in this \"decompression chain\" wascapped, but the cap was implemented on a per-header basis allowing a maliciousserver to insert a virtually unlimited number of compression steps simply byusing many headers. The use of such a decompression chain could result in a \"malloc bomb\", making curl end up spending enormous amounts of allocated heap memory, or trying to and returning out of memory errors.","modified":"2026-04-22T16:37:19.539834Z","published":"2023-02-15T00:00:00Z","related":["USN-5891-1"],"upstream":["CVE-2023-23916"],"references":[{"type":"REPORT","url":"https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-23916"},{"type":"REPORT","url":"https://curl.se/docs/CVE-2023-23916.html"},{"type":"ADVISORY","url":"https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-5891-1"},{"type":"REPORT","url":"https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-23916"}],"affected":[{"package":{"name":"curl","ecosystem":"Ubuntu:18.04:LTS","purl":"pkg:deb/ubuntu/curl@7.58.0-2ubuntu3.23?arch=source&distro=bionic"},"ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"0"},{"fixed":"7.58.0-2ubuntu3.23"}]}],"versions":["7.55.1-1ubuntu2","7.55.1-1ubuntu2.1","7.57.0-1ubuntu1","7.58.0-2ubuntu1","7.58.0-2ubuntu2","7.58.0-2ubuntu3","7.58.0-2ubuntu3.1","7.58.0-2ubuntu3.2","7.58.0-2ubuntu3.3","7.58.0-2ubuntu3.5","7.58.0-2ubuntu3.6","7.58.0-2ubuntu3.7","7.58.0-2ubuntu3.8","7.58.0-2ubuntu3.9","7.58.0-2ubuntu3.10","7.58.0-2ubuntu3.12","7.58.0-2ubuntu3.13","7.58.0-2ubuntu3.14","7.58.0-2ubuntu3.15","7.58.0-2ubuntu3.16","7.58.0-2ubuntu3.17","7.58.0-2ubuntu3.18","7.58.0-2ubuntu3.19","7.58.0-2ubuntu3.20","7.58.0-2ubuntu3.21","7.58.0-2ubuntu3.22"],"ecosystem_specific":{"binaries":[{"binary_version":"7.58.0-2ubuntu3.23","binary_name":"curl"},{"binary_version":"7.58.0-2ubuntu3.23","binary_name":"libcurl3-gnutls"},{"binary_version":"7.58.0-2ubuntu3.23","binary_name":"libcurl3-nss"},{"binary_version":"7.58.0-2ubuntu3.23","binary_name":"libcurl4"}],"availability":"No subscription required"},"database_specific":{"source":"https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices/blob/main/osv/cve/2023/UBUNTU-CVE-2023-23916.json"}},{"package":{"name":"curl","ecosystem":"Ubuntu:20.04:LTS","purl":"pkg:deb/ubuntu/curl@7.68.0-1ubuntu2.16?arch=source&distro=focal"},"ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"0"},{"fixed":"7.68.0-1ubuntu2.16"}]}],"versions":["7.65.3-1ubuntu3","7.65.3-1ubuntu4","7.66.0-1ubuntu1","7.67.0-2ubuntu1","7.68.0-1ubuntu1","7.68.0-1ubuntu2","7.68.0-1ubuntu2.1","7.68.0-1ubuntu2.2","7.68.0-1ubuntu2.4","7.68.0-1ubuntu2.5","7.68.0-1ubuntu2.6","7.68.0-1ubuntu2.7","7.68.0-1ubuntu2.10","7.68.0-1ubuntu2.11","7.68.0-1ubuntu2.12","7.68.0-1ubuntu2.13","7.68.0-1ubuntu2.14","7.68.0-1ubuntu2.15"],"ecosystem_specific":{"binaries":[{"binary_version":"7.68.0-1ubuntu2.16","binary_name":"curl"},{"binary_version":"7.68.0-1ubuntu2.16","binary_name":"libcurl3-gnutls"},{"binary_version":"7.68.0-1ubuntu2.16","binary_name":"libcurl3-nss"},{"binary_version":"7.68.0-1ubuntu2.16","binary_name":"libcurl4"}],"availability":"No subscription required"},"database_specific":{"source":"https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices/blob/main/osv/cve/2023/UBUNTU-CVE-2023-23916.json"}},{"package":{"name":"curl","ecosystem":"Ubuntu:22.04:LTS","purl":"pkg:deb/ubuntu/curl@7.81.0-1ubuntu1.8?arch=source&distro=jammy"},"ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"0"},{"fixed":"7.81.0-1ubuntu1.8"}]}],"versions":["7.74.0-1.3ubuntu2","7.74.0-1.3ubuntu3","7.80.0-3","7.81.0-1","7.81.0-1ubuntu1.1","7.81.0-1ubuntu1.2","7.81.0-1ubuntu1.3","7.81.0-1ubuntu1.4","7.81.0-1ubuntu1.6","7.81.0-1ubuntu1.7"],"ecosystem_specific":{"binaries":[{"binary_version":"7.81.0-1ubuntu1.8","binary_name":"curl"},{"binary_version":"7.81.0-1ubuntu1.8","binary_name":"libcurl3-gnutls"},{"binary_version":"7.81.0-1ubuntu1.8","binary_name":"libcurl3-nss"},{"binary_version":"7.81.0-1ubuntu1.8","binary_name":"libcurl4"}],"availability":"No subscription required"},"database_specific":{"source":"https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices/blob/main/osv/cve/2023/UBUNTU-CVE-2023-23916.json"}}],"schema_version":"1.7.5","severity":[{"type":"CVSS_V3","score":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H"},{"type":"CVSS_V3","score":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H"},{"type":"Ubuntu","score":"medium"}]}