CVE-2023-4039

Summary

CVE-2023-4039 is a vulnerability that affects GCC-based toolchains targeting AArch64 architecture. It allows an attacker to exploit a buffer overflow in dynamically-sized local variables without being detected. This vulnerability specifically affects C99-style dynamically-sized local variables or those created using alloca(). The stack-protector feature, which is intended to detect overflows, fails in this case. When an overflow occurs, the default behavior is for the application to terminate, resulting in a controlled loss of availability. However, if an attacker can exploit the buffer overflow without triggering the stack-protector, they may be able to change program flow control and cause an uncontrolled loss of availability or affect confidentiality and integrity. The GCC project argues that this is a missed hardening bug rather than a vulnerability itself.

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