---
title: "CVE-2023-7256\n    | Ubuntu"
description: Ubuntu is an open source software operating system that runs from the
  desktop, to the cloud, to all your internet connected things.
url: https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-7256?format=md
keywords: index, follow
---

# CVE-2023-7256

Publication date 31 August 2024

Last updated 26 August 2025

---

Ubuntu priority

**Medium**

[Why this priority?](https://ubuntu.com/security/cves/about#priority )

## Cvss 3 Severity Score

**4.4 · Medium**

[Score breakdown](https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-7256?format=md#impact-score)

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## Description

In affected libpcap versions during the setup of a remote packet capture
the internal function sock\_initaddress() calls getaddrinfo() and possibly
freeaddrinfo(), but does not clearly indicate to the caller function
whether freeaddrinfo() still remains to be called after the function
returns. This makes it possible in some scenarios that both the function
and its caller call freeaddrinfo() for the same allocated memory block. A
similar problem was reported in Apple libpcap, to which Apple assigned
CVE-2023-40400.

[Read the notes from the security team](https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-7256?format=md#notes)

## Status

Show unmaintained releases

| Package | Ubuntu Release | Status |
| --- | --- | --- |
| libpcap | 24.04 LTS noble | Not affected |
| 22.04 LTS jammy | Not affected |
| 20.04 LTS focal | Not affected |
| 18.04 LTS bionic | Not affected |
| 16.04 LTS xenial | Not affected |
| 14.04 LTS trusty | Not affected |

---

* [How can I get the fixes?](https://ubuntu.com/security/cves/about#security)
* [What do statuses mean?](https://ubuntu.com/security/cves/about#statuses)
* [Patch details](https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-7256?format=md#patch-details)

## Notes

---

### [mdeslaur](https://launchpad.net/~mdeslaur)

remote packet capture is not enabled in Ubuntu builds, so this
vulnerability is not present in Ubuntu packages.

### Patch details

For informational purposes only. We recommend not to cherry-pick updates. [How can I get the fixes?](https://ubuntu.com/security/cves/about#security)

| Package | Patch details |
| --- | --- |
| libpcap | * Upstream:   [262e4f3](https://github.com/the-tcpdump-group/libpcap/commit/262e4f34979872d822ccedf9f318ed89c4d31c03) * Upstream:   [2aa69b0](https://github.com/the-tcpdump-group/libpcap/commit/2aa69b04d8173b18a0e3492e0c8f2f7fabdf642d) |

## Severity score breakdown

CVSS version:
CVSS v3.0

**Base score**

4.4 · Medium

* Base metrics

  | Parameter | Value |
  | --- | --- |
  | Attack vector | Local |
  | Attack complexity | Low |
  | Privileges required | High |
  | User interaction | None |
  | Scope | Unchanged |
  | Confidentiality impact | None |
  | Integrity impact | None |
  | Availability impact | High |
* Scores

  | Parameter | Value |
  | --- | --- |
  | Base score | 4.4 · Medium |
  | Exploitability score | - |
  | Impact score | - |

**Vector:** CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

## References

* [MITRE](https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2023-7256)
* [NVD](https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-7256)
* [Launchpad](https://launchpad.net/bugs/cve/CVE-2023-7256)
* [Debian](https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-7256)

### Other references

* <https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-7256>