Kamailio
CVE-2018-16657
CRITICAL
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A10:2025 - Mishandling of Exceptional Conditions
ASVS 5.0
V16 - Security Logging and Error Handling Null pointer safety, defensive checks
MITRE ATT&CK
1 technique across 1 tactic: Impact The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Impact | CVSS score of 9.8 (CRITICAL). Attack characteristics: network attack vector, low complexity, no privileges required, no user interaction not required. Public proof-of-concept exploit code is available. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A remote attacker could crash the application by dereferencing a null pointer by sending crafted requests to the affected application. No authentication is required to exploit this vulnerability. |
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Alert meAnalysisAI
In Kamailio before 5.0.7 and 5.1.x before 5.1.4, a crafted SIP message with an invalid Via header causes a segmentation fault and crashes Kamailio. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
RemediationAI
No vendor patch is available at time of analysis. Monitor vendor advisories for updates. Check pointers before dereferencing. Use static analysis tools to detect null pointer paths.
Affects your stack
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Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
This vulnerability is classified as NULL Pointer Dereference (CWE-476), which allows attackers to crash the application by dereferencing a null pointer. In Kamailio before 5.0.7 and 5.1.x before 5.1.4, a crafted SIP message with an invalid Via header causes a segmentation fault and crashes Kamailio. The reason is missing input validation in the crcitt_string_array core function for calculating a CRC hash for To tags. (An additional error is present in the check_via_address core function: this function also misses input validation.) This could result in denial of service and potentially the execution of arbitrary code. Affected products include: Debian Debian Linux, Kamailio. Version information: before 5.0.7.
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- Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorNVD
DescriptionNVD
In Kamailio before 5.0.7 and 5.1.x before 5.1.4, a crafted SIP message with an invalid Via header causes a segmentation fault and crashes Kamailio. The reason is missing input validation in the crcitt_string_array core function for calculating a CRC hash for To tags. (An additional error is present in the check_via_address core function: this function also misses input validation.) This could result in denial of service and potentially the execution of arbitrary code.
Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
A null pointer dereference occurs when a program attempts to access memory through a pointer that has been set to NULL (address 0x0).
Remote Code Execution represents the critical moment when an attacker successfully runs arbitrary code on a target system without physical access.
Denial of Service attacks render applications or systems unavailable by overwhelming resources or triggering failure conditions.
Affected Products (CPE)NVD
Heap-based buffer overflow in the encode_msg function in encode_msg.c in the SEAS module in Kamailio (formerly OpenSER a
In Kamailio before 5.0.7 and 5.1.x before 5.1.4, a crafted SIP message with a double "To" header and an empty "To" tag c
Insecure Temporary file vulnerability in /tmp/kamailio_fifo in kamailio 4.0.1. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this
A Buffer Overflow issue was discovered in Kamailio before 4.4.7, 5.0.x before 5.0.6, and 5.1.x before 5.1.2. Rated criti
Heap-based buffer overflow in Kamailio's CDP (C Diameter Peer) module allows a remote party that can deliver a malformed
Kamailio before 5.4.0, as used in Sip Express Router (SER) in Sippy Softswitch 4.5 through 5.2 and other products, allow
The kamcmd administrative utility and default configuration in kamailio before 4.3.0 use /tmp/kamailio_ctl. Rated high s
The kamailio build in kamailio before 4.2.0-2 process allows local users to gain privileges. Rated high severity (CVSS 7
Denial of service in Kamailio v6.1.1 and earlier allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to crash the SIP proxy by sen
Out-of-bounds memory access in Kamailio SIP server versions before 5.8.8, 6.0.6, and 6.1.1 enables unauthenticated remot
A heap/stack-adjacent buffer overflow in Kamailio's optional sipt module lets remote, unauthenticated attackers crash th
Out-of-bounds read in Kamailio's IMS AVP handler exposes telecom infrastructure to remote memory disclosure and potentia
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
GitHub PoC
Exploit-DB