The libX11 library is part of the X.org stack and is installed on most GNU/Linux distributions by default. Most X servers are affected by this issue and there is a high probability that they are in use when it is exploited. The severity of the issue depends on the context where it is exploited. This can be a remote system, a web server, or an embedded device.
Episode 44 of the Xorg Security YouTube channel published a video about this vulnerability. In the video, the author describes how an attacker could exploit this issue. The attacker does not need to be a skilled hacker. All that is needed is a vulnerable system with the libX11 library in use. An attacker could exploit this issue to run remote code. On web servers, it can be abused to perform a cross-site request forgery attack. It can also be used in a Denial of Service (DoS) attack. An attacker could embed this vulnerability into an embedded device. The device could then be used to target other devices with a malformed X server protocol.

CVE-2023-6453

In CVE-2023-6453, a remote code execution vulnerability was found in the libXfont library. This issue could be exploited by an attacker to execute arbitrary code on a targeted system. The severity of this issue depends on the context where it is exploited. This can be a remote system, a web server, or an embedded device.
Episode 44 of the Xorg Security YouTube channel published a video about this vulnerability. In the video, the author describes how an attacker could exploit this issue. If a vulnerable application uses this library, then it could be exploited by an attacker without needing any skills to do so. All that is needed is access to the targeted system and using the vulnerable application in question. An attacker could target other devices with a malformed X server protocol by exploiting these vulnerabilities.

How is libX11 vulnerable?

The vulnerability in libX11 is caused by the use of X.org servers that accept connections with a source port of 0. It is also due to the way that libX11 handles invalid DGA connections.
The most common way this vulnerability is exploited is through a connection from a client running an older version of the X server with no forward-secrecy enabled. This allows an attacker to send forged DGA packets to crash the server and make it unusable. An attacker can also run malicious code on a system that uses libX11 without crashing their server, which makes it harder for administrators to detect the attack.

Dependency Package Instance

The libX11 library is part of the X.org stack and is installed by default on most GNU/Linux distributions. There are many circumstances where this library is in use. This includes running an X server, as well as running other programs that are dependent on the X server such as web servers or embedded devices. The severity of the issue depends on the context where it is exploited, whether it be remote systems, web servers, or embedded devices.
If you are using a vulnerable system with libX11, there will be a high probability that you are also using libX11 when exploiting this issue. An attacker can exploit this without any skill necessary and will easily be able to perform a remote code execution attack against a target machine. For web servers, it can be used to perform a cross-site request forgery attack. It can also be used in a Denial of Service (DoS) attack against others who may not have been vulnerable to this exploit before. For embedded devices, it can be used to target other devices with malformed X server protocol packets from an attacker's device.
If your system or software package contains the libX11 library, you should make sure that your installation does not contain any vulnerabilities related to CVE-2022-3555

How It Works? libX11 is a library that offers a compatibility layer for X Window System. The vulnerability was discovered in libX11 that allows an attacker to replace the xrandr command. This issue has been fixed by updating the libX11 library to version 1.19.2-1.

There are many ways that this vulnerability can be exploited, including remote code execution and cross-site request forgery attacks and Denial of Service attacks.
The severity of this issue depends on the context where it is exploited. This can be a remote system, a web server, or an embedded device

Timeline

Published on: 10/17/2022 13:15:00 UTC
Last modified on: 10/19/2022 15:15:00 UTC

References