Skip to main content

Wolfssl CVE-2022-39173

HIGH
Out-of-bounds Write (CWE-787)
2022-09-29 cve@mitre.org
7.5
CVSS 3.1 · NVD
View

Vulnerability Assessment

Weakness
CWE
ASVS 5.0
V15 - Secure Coding and Architecture Bounds checking, write limits
MITRE ATT&CK

2 techniques across 2 tactics: Execution, Privilege Escalation

The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up.

Impact

CVSS score of 7.5 (HIGH). 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 write data beyond allocated buffer boundaries leading to code execution or crashes by sending crafted requests to the affected application. No authentication is required to exploit this vulnerability.

This Week Schedule remediation this week. Why: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9).
No patch listed yet 4.3% exploitation probability (EPSS)

Get an e-mail when this CVE is exploited, patched or re-scored. Free account.

Alert me

AnalysisAI

In wolfSSL before 5.5.1, malicious clients can cause a buffer overflow during a TLS 1.3 handshake. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), 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. Validate write boundaries, use memory-safe languages, enable compiler protections (ASLR, stack canaries).

Affects your stack

Find out whether the stacks and servers you run are on an affected version.

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 Out-of-bounds Write (CWE-787), which allows attackers to write data beyond allocated buffer boundaries leading to code execution or crashes. In wolfSSL before 5.5.1, malicious clients can cause a buffer overflow during a TLS 1.3 handshake. This occurs when an attacker supposedly resumes a previous TLS session. During the resumption Client Hello a Hello Retry Request must be triggered. Both Client Hellos are required to contain a list of duplicate cipher suites to trigger the buffer overflow. In total, two Client Hellos have to be sent: one in the resumed session, and a second one as a response to a Hello Retry Request message. Affected products include: Wolfssl. Version information: before 5.5.1.

Know when Wolfssl gets its next vulnerability

  • Watch products and get an email when something new is published
  • Check this CVE against your own stack and servers
  • Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources

No credit card · 7-day full trial

Severity by source

NVD PRIMARY 7.5 HIGH
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.

CVSS VectorNVD

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

DescriptionNVD

In wolfSSL before 5.5.1, malicious clients can cause a buffer overflow during a TLS 1.3 handshake. This occurs when an attacker supposedly resumes a previous TLS session. During the resumption Client Hello a Hello Retry Request must be triggered. Both Client Hellos are required to contain a list of duplicate cipher suites to trigger the buffer overflow. In total, two Client Hellos have to be sent: one in the resumed session, and a second one as a response to a Hello Retry Request message.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
4.3%
Top 10% exploitable
Exploit
POC
Public exploit code exists
Data Quality
3 sources
Confidence: Low

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.

SignalValue
Severity HIGH
CISA KEV No
Public POC Yes
EPSS 4.3%
Patch available No
Active threat No
Deciding rule
HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9)
What every action level means
Emergency Immediate action required. Criteria: CRITICAL + in CISA KEV (actively exploited) without patch, OR CRITICAL + EPSS > 30% without patch, OR CRITICAL + active threat signals without patch.
Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Criteria: in KEV with patch available, OR CRITICAL + public POC, OR HIGH + EPSS > 10%, OR CRITICAL + active threat, OR any CRITICAL severity.
This Week Schedule remediation this week. Criteria: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9). Patch within normal change window.
This Month Plan within 30 days. Criteria: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9), lower exploitation probability. Include in regular patch cycle.
Monitor Track and reassess. Criteria: LOW severity (CVSS 0.1-3.9), minimal exploitation risk. No immediate action needed.

SSVC AssessmentENISA

SSVC Decision· derived
Scheduled
Exploitation· derived
Poc
System Exposure· derived
Open
Automatable· derived
Yes
Human Impact· derived
Medium

Priority Score

62
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: +4
CVSS: +38
PoC: +20
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

A buffer overflow occurs when a program writes more data to a memory buffer than it was allocated to hold, causing the excess data to spill into adjacent memory regions.

Memory corruption occurs when a program writes data beyond the boundaries of allocated memory regions or accesses memory in unintended ways, violating the integrity of the process's address space.

Affected Products (CPE)NVD

cpe:2.3:a:wolfssl:wolfssl:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
CVE-2017-13099 HIGH POC
7.5 Dec 13

wolfSSL prior to version 3.12.2 provides a weak Bleichenbacher oracle when any TLS cipher suite using RSA key exchange i

CVE-2017-2800 CRITICAL POC
9.8 May 24

A specially crafted x509 certificate can cause a single out of bounds byte overwrite in wolfSSL through 3.10.2 resulting

CVE-2026-89136 HIGH POC
8.3 Sep 27

Authentication bypass in wolfSSL TLS clients built with Raw Public Key (RPK) support allows a malicious or on-path serve

CVE-2026-93302 HIGH POC
8.3 Sep 27

wolfSSL builds that enable the WOLFSSL_TRUST_PEER_CERT macro can be induced to accept a forged clone of a trusted-peer C

CVE-2026-89102 HIGH POC
8.3 Sep 27

Certificate forgery in the wolfSSL client (versions 5.7.2 through 5.9.2) lets a remote attacker who already holds any ce

CVE-2015-6925 HIGH POC
7.5 Jan 22

wolfSSL (formerly CyaSSL) before 3.6.8 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (resource consumption or tra

CVE-2022-38152 HIGH POC
7.5 Aug 31

An issue was discovered in wolfSSL before 5.5.0. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploita

CVE-2020-11713 HIGH POC
7.5 Apr 12

wolfSSL 4.3.0 has mulmod code in wc_ecc_mulmod_ex in ecc.c that does not properly resist timing side-channel attacks. Ra

CVE-2019-18840 HIGH POC
7.5 Nov 09

In wolfSSL 4.1.0 through 4.2.0c, there are missing sanity checks of memory accesses in parsing ASN.1 certificate data wh

CVE-2020-15309 HIGH POC
7.0 Aug 21

An issue was discovered in wolfSSL before 4.5.0, when single precision is not employed. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.0).

CVE-2020-24613 MEDIUM POC
6.8 Aug 24

wolfSSL before 4.5.0 mishandles TLS 1.3 server data in the WAIT_CERT_CR state, within SanityCheckTls13MsgReceived() in t

CVE-2015-7744 MEDIUM POC
5.9 Jan 22

wolfSSL (formerly CyaSSL) before 3.6.8 does not properly handle faults associated with the Chinese Remainder Theorem (CR

This site uses cookies essential for authentication and security. No tracking or analytics cookies are used. Privacy Policy