Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
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AccessDeliver crafted .cfg file with oversized layer index
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DeliveryVictim or pipeline invokes darknet configuration parser
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Exploitparse_shortcut_section reads net.layers[index].outputs out-of-bounds
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Executioncreate_network writes fixed byte to heap past allocation boundary
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ImpactProcess crashes (DoS) or adjacent heap metadata corrupted
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
ASVS 5.0
V15 - Secure Coding and Architecture Bounds checking, read limits
MITRE ATT&CK
1 technique across 1 tactic: Collection The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Exploitation Conditions | Exploitation requires that the target invoke darknet's configuration parser against a .cfg file in which a shortcut, scale_channels, sam, or route section contains a |
| Impact | The CVSS 4.0 score of 6.9 with AV:L/UI:P accurately captures the constrained attack surface: exploitation requires local delivery of a malicious .cfg file and user (or pipeline) invocation of the parser. The high availability impact reflects a reliable, deterministic crash rather than a probabilistic one. The integrity impact is rated low because the write primitive controls only the heap offset, not the written value, significantly limiting exploitation beyond denial-of-service-heap layout randomization (ASLR) further reduces the utility of the fixed-byte write for memory corruption attacks. EPSS data was not provided and is therefore unavailable for comparison. The absence of a KEV listing and the lack of any referenced proof-of-concept code suggest no confirmed widespread exploitation. The realistic threat population is narrow: research or production ML pipelines that consume externally authored or user-supplied .cfg files; organizations processing only internally validated configurations face negligible risk. The niche deployment footprint of Darknet further limits aggregate exposure, though any team running automated model-training workflows against untrusted config repositories should treat bounds validation of index fields as a priority fix. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An attacker crafts a darknet .cfg file containing a shortcut section whose |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Aug 27, 2026
Out-of-bounds read and write primitives in the hank-ai Darknet neural network framework (all versions through 6.0) are triggered by parsing a crafted configuration file, yielding a reliable crash and a single fixed-byte heap write at an attacker-controlled offset. The parser in src-lib/darknet_cfg.cpp consumes the from field of shortcut, scale_channels, and sam sections-and the layers field of route sections-as a direct array index into the layer heap allocation without validating it against the array's declared size. No public exploit has been identified at time of analysis, and the vulnerability is not listed in CISA KEV.
RemediationAI
No vendor-released patched version has been identified at time of analysis; the affected version range is confirmed as all releases through 6.0. Monitor the VulnCheck advisory (https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/darknet-through-6.0-out-of-bounds-read-and-write-via-unchecked-layer-index-in-cfg-parser) and the upstream GitHub repository (https://github.com/hank-ai/darknet) for a patched release. The correct upstream fix is to add a bounds check in parse_shortcut_section (src-lib/darknet_cfg.cpp) and in the create_network dispatch loop (src-lib/darknet_network.cpp), validating that any index derived from from or layers fields satisfies 0 <= index < net.n before use; this can be applied as a local source patch with no expected functional side effects. As a compensating control until a patch is available, restrict darknet to parsing only internally authored or schema-validated .cfg files-specifically preventing any external input from supplying from or layers field values. Where automated pipelines ingest third-party configs, sandbox the darknet process with OS-level isolation (seccomp profile, container with limited capabilities, or separate low-privilege user) to bound the impact of a crash or marginal heap write to the parser process alone.
Affected VersionsENISA
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 1 package in euvd
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
Darknet is an open-source C/C++ neural network inference framework maintained by hank-ai (CPE: cpe:2.3:a:hank-ai:darknet:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*). The vulnerability's root cause is CWE-125 (out-of-bounds read), compounded by an associated out-of-bounds write. In src-lib/darknet_network.cpp, the layer heap is allocated via xcalloc(net.n, sizeof(Darknet::Layer)), sized exactly to the count of declared layer sections in the .cfg file. The parse_shortcut_section function in src-lib/darknet_cfg.cpp reads net.layers[index].outputs using an index derived directly from the from or layers configuration field, applying no bounds check against net.n. Subsequently, the create_network dispatch loop writes fixed one-byte values to net.layers[l.index].use_bin_output and net.layers[l.index].keep_delta_gpu at the same unchecked offset. The read and write both occur during configuration parsing, before any weights file is opened, meaning no model data or secondary file is required to trigger the vulnerability.
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- Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources
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Severity by source
CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:L/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
AV:L because exploitation requires parsing a local config file; PR:N since no system privileges are needed to supply a .cfg file; UI:R because a user or pipeline must invoke darknet with the crafted input; A:H for reliable crash; I:L for the fixed-byte heap write with no confidentiality exposure.
Primary rating from Vendor (VulnCheck).
CVSS VectorVendor: VulnCheck
DescriptionCVE.org
darknet subscripts its layer array with an index taken from a configuration file without checking it against the array's length. The array is allocated in src-lib/darknet_network.cpp as xcalloc(net.n, sizeof(Darknet::Layer)), sized to exactly the number of layer sections the file declares. The shortcut, scale_channels and sam sections supply that index through their from field and the route section through its layers field, and parse_shortcut_section in src-lib/darknet_cfg.cpp reads net.layers[index].outputs with no bounds check, which reads past the allocation. The dispatch loop in create_network then reuses the same index to assign net.layers[l.index].use_bin_output and net.layers[l.index].keep_delta_gpu, writing past the allocation at an offset the file controls, with a fixed one-byte value. Parsing a crafted configuration file is sufficient: the parse runs before any weights file is opened and needs no non-default option, so the result is a reliable crash and a write whose location, though not its value, is chosen by whoever supplied the file.
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 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.
Information disclosure occurs when an application unintentionally exposes sensitive data that aids attackers in reconnaissance or directly compromises security.
EUVD-2026-67031
GHSA-727p-q944-q4q7
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Vulnrichment
Exploit-DB