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CVE-2023-51890

CVE-2023-51890 Supply Chain Attack in Mathtex
📅 PUBLISHED: 2024-01-24 00:00 UTC 🔄 UPDATED: 2026-09-23 10:16 UTC
⏳ SCORE PENDING — ANALYSIS IN PROGRESS [ DEFENSE PATCH ↓ ]
💣 PoC: None
👁️
Proof of Concept - Indicates if functional exploit code is publicly available, drastically increasing the risk of immediate attacks.
 🎯 EPSS: 0.86%
👁️
0.86% probability
21.4× above the median CVE
Tier: ELEVATED
30-day exploitation window · FIRST.org · updated daily
VULNERABLE: UNKNOWN / CHECK VENDOR
CVSS SEVERITY SCALE
9.0–10.0 CRITICAL
7.0–8.9 HIGH
4.0–6.9 MEDIUM
0.1–3.9 LOW
0.0 NONE
SOON
PENDING NVD
INTEL SOURCES NVD CVEProject Debian OSV.dev EPSS HOW WE SCORE →
■ tracking this CVE ✓ independent patch confirmation ⧗ same-origin mirror (GHSA) ⚠ active exploitation verification policy →

Executive Summary

CVE-2023-51890 identifies a critical denial-of-service (DoS) vulnerability in Mathtex version 1.05 and earlier. The flaw resides in the application’s URL parsing logic, where a crafted string can trigger an infinite loop, leading to complete CPU resource exhaustion. This vulnerability is remotely exploitable without authentication, making it a significant threat to availability. The vendor has not released a patch, and no official fix is available as of this report. The EPSS score of 0.0% indicates low exploitation activity in the wild, but the public availability of proof-of-concept details increases the risk for targeted attacks.

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Supply Chain & Package Security

Mathtex is a standalone CGI script used to render LaTeX math expressions into images. It is not distributed via package managers like NPM, PyPI, Go, or Ruby. The vulnerability affects the core application binary, and no supply chain dependencies are involved. However, any system integrating Mathtex as a service is at risk.

CVSS Breakdown & Threat Level

The CVSS score is not officially assigned, but based on the vulnerability characteristics, a reasonable assessment is:

  • Attack Vector (AV): Network (N) – Exploitable remotely.
  • Attack Complexity (AC): Low (L) – No special conditions required.
  • Privileges Required (PR): None (N) – No authentication needed.
  • User Interaction (UI): None (N) – No user action required.
  • Scope (S): Unchanged (U) – Affects only the vulnerable component.
  • Confidentiality (C): None (N) – No data breach.
  • Integrity (I): None (N) – No data modification.
  • Availability (A): High (H) – Complete CPU exhaustion.

Estimated CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Estimated Base Score: 7.5 (High)

Threat Level: High – The ease of exploitation and potential for service disruption make this a serious concern for any organization using Mathtex.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability is a classic infinite loop (CWE-835) caused by improper input validation. Mathtex processes URL parameters to generate LaTeX images. When a specially crafted string is passed in the URL, the parsing logic enters an endless loop, consuming 100% of a CPU core. This can be repeated across multiple connections to exhaust all available CPU resources, leading to a denial of service.

Root Cause: The application fails to handle malformed or excessively long input strings, causing a loop condition that never terminates. The exact vulnerable function is in the URL parameter parsing routine, likely in the mathtex.c source file.

Attack Vector: An attacker sends an HTTP GET request to the Mathtex CGI endpoint with a crafted query string. Example:
http://target/cgi-bin/mathtex.cgi?<crafted_string>

Impact: The server becomes unresponsive to legitimate requests, and the CPU remains pegged until the process is manually killed or the server is rebooted.

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

Since no patch is available, the vulnerable code remains unchanged. The following is a hypothetical representation of the vulnerable logic:

Vulnerable Code (Mathtex 1.05):

void parse_url(char *url) {
    int i = 0;
    while (url[i] != '\0') {
        // Process character
        if (url[i] == '%') {
            // Decode percent-encoded characters
            // Missing bounds check leads to infinite loop
            i = decode_percent(url, i);
        }
        i++;
    }
}

Patched Code (Hypothetical):

void parse_url(char *url) {
    int i = 0;
    int max_len = strlen(url);
    while (i < max_len && url[i] != '\0') {
        if (url[i] == '%') {
            i = decode_percent(url, i);
            if (i < 0) break; // Error handling
        }
        i++;
    }
}

The patch would add a maximum iteration limit and proper error handling to break out of the loop on malformed input.

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team (Offensive)

Prerequisites:

  • Target running Mathtex 1.05 or earlier.
  • Network access to the CGI endpoint.

Exploit Steps:

  1. Identify the Mathtex endpoint (e.g., http://target/cgi-bin/mathtex.cgi).
  2. Craft a malicious URL with a string that triggers the infinite loop. Example payload:
    http://target/cgi-bin/mathtex.cgi?%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%25%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◈ SOURCE Analysis & enrichment: valtersit.com/cve/CVE-2023-51890/ · CVE data: NVD/MITRE (public domain) · © 2026 ValtersIT Hub
>_ SYSTEM_CORE: INTEL_ACTIVE
90% TEAM-CURATED // 10% AUTOMATED INGESTION.
ALL PATCH REFERENCES AND VERSION DATA SOURCED FROM NVD + OSV OFFICIAL REGISTRIES.