CVE-2023-35969

Vulnerability

A heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability exists in the fstReaderIterBlocks2 function's parsing of the chain_table for FST_BL_VCDATA and FST_BL_VCDATA_DYN_ALIAS section types in GTKWave 3.3.115 [1]. A specially crafted .fst file can trigger the overflow when the file is opened.

Exploitation

An attacker must craft a malicious .fst file and convince a victim to open it, for example by double-clicking on an email attachment. No authentication or special privileges are required. The victim's action of opening the file in GTKWave triggers the vulnerable code path, leading to the buffer overflow.

Impact

Successful exploitation allows arbitrary code execution with the privileges of the user running GTKWave. This can result in full compromise of confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the affected system.

Mitigation

As of the publication date (2024-01-08), no fixed version has been disclosed by the vendor [1]. Users should avoid opening untrusted .fst files and consider using alternative tools or sandboxing environments until a patch is released.