CVE-2023-34966

Samba: infinite loop in mdssvc rpc service for spotlight

publishedCWE-835

An infinite loop vulnerability was found in Samba's mdssvc RPC service for Spotlight. When parsing Spotlight mdssvc RPC packets sent by the client, the core unmarshalling function sl_unpack_loop() did not validate a field in the network packet that contains the count of elements in an array-like structure. By passing 0 as the count value, the attacked function will run in an endless loop consuming 100% CPU. This flaw allows an attacker to issue a malformed RPC request, triggering an infinite loop, resulting in a denial of service condition.

Technical severity7.5 highCVSS 3.1 · CNA: redhat

Published2023-07-20Source updated 2026-11-07

Collected2026-11-072 attributed sources

Fixes and workarounds

Workaround

As a possible workaround, disable Spotlight by removing all configuration stanzas ("spotlight=yes|true") that enable Spotlight .

Source: CNA: redhat

Affected products and versions

Affected products, source version ranges and reporting authorities
Product	Versions	Authority
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Red Hat `samba` https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/	≥ 0:4.18.6-1.el8; < * (unaffected, rpm) Other versions: affected	CNA: redhat
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6 Extended Update Support Red Hat `samba` https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/	≥ 0:4.15.5-15.el8_6; < * (unaffected, rpm) Other versions: affected	CNA: redhat
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.8 Extended Update Support Red Hat `samba` https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/	≥ 0:4.17.5-5.el8_8; < * (unaffected, rpm) Other versions: affected	CNA: redhat
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 Red Hat `samba` https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/	≥ 0:4.18.6-100.el9; < * (unaffected, rpm) Other versions: affected	CNA: redhat
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.2 Extended Update Support Red Hat `samba` https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/	≥ 0:4.17.5-105.el9_2; < * (unaffected, rpm) Other versions: affected	CNA: redhat
Red Hat Virtualization 4 for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Red Hat `samba` https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/	≥ 0:4.15.5-15.el8_6; < * (unaffected, rpm) Other versions: affected	CNA: redhat
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Red Hat `samba` https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/	Range not reported Other versions: unknown	CNA: redhat
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Red Hat `samba4` https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/	Range not reported Other versions: unknown	CNA: redhat
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Red Hat `samba` https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/	Range not reported Other versions: unknown	CNA: redhat
Red Hat Storage 3 Red Hat `samba` https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/	Range not reported Other versions: unknown	CNA: redhat

Version ranges are source assertions. Check the vendor advisory and your installed configuration before determining exposure.

CVSS assessments

CVSS scores, vectors and reporting authorities
Version / score	Vector	Authority
3.1 / 7.5 high	`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`	CNA: redhat

Exploit evidence

No exploit evidence in collected sources. This is not proof of no exploitation.

References

https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2023:6667CNA: redhat · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2023:7139CNA: redhat · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:0423CNA: redhat · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:0580CNA: redhat · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:4101CNA: redhat · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-34966CNA: redhat · vdb-entry, x_refsource_REDHAT
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2222793CNA: redhat · issue-tracking, x_refsource_REDHAT
https://www.samba.org/samba/security/CVE-2023-34966CNA: redhat
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2023:6667ADP: CVE · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT, x_transferred
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2023:7139ADP: CVE · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT, x_transferred
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:0423ADP: CVE · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT, x_transferred
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:0580ADP: CVE · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT, x_transferred
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:4101ADP: CVE · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT, x_transferred
https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-34966ADP: CVE · vdb-entry, x_refsource_REDHAT, x_transferred
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2222793ADP: CVE · issue-tracking, x_refsource_REDHAT, x_transferred
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/BPCSGND7LO467AJGR5DYBGZLTCGTOBCC/ADP: CVE · x_transferred
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/OT74M42E6C36W7PQVY3OS4ZM7DVYB64Z/ADP: CVE · x_transferred
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20230731-0010/ADP: CVE · x_transferred
https://www.debian.org/security/2023/dsa-5477ADP: CVE · x_transferred
https://www.samba.org/samba/security/CVE-2023-34966ADP: CVE · x_transferred

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