CVE-2023-38538
CVE-2023-38538 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Whatsapp with a CVSS 3.x base score of 5.0. It is not currently listed as actively exploited by CISA, and its EPSS exploit-prediction score is low. The underlying weakness is classified as CWE-362.
Key facts
- Severity: Medium (CVSS 3.x base score 5.0)
- EPSS exploit prediction: 0% (10th percentile)
- Actively exploited: Not listed in CISA KEV
- Weakness: CWE-362
- Affected product: Whatsapp
- Published:
- Last modified:
Description
A race condition in an event subsystem led to a heap use-after-free issue in established audio/video calls that could have resulted in app termination or unexpected control flow with very low probability.
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2023-38538?
- A race condition in an event subsystem led to a heap use-after-free issue in established audio/video calls that could have resulted in app termination or unexpected control flow with very low probability.
- How severe is CVE-2023-38538?
- CVE-2023-38538 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 5.0, rated medium severity. It is exploitable over network with high attack complexity, requires no privileges and user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is low, integrity low, and availability low.
- Is CVE-2023-38538 being actively exploited?
- It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 0% (10th percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
- What products are affected by CVE-2023-38538?
- CVE-2023-38538 affects Whatsapp. See the affected-products list for the exact vulnerable versions.
- How do I fix CVE-2023-38538?
- Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround.
- When was CVE-2023-38538 published?
- CVE-2023-38538 was published on 2023-10-04 and last updated on 2026-06-17.
References
Affected products (1)
- cpe:2.3:a:whatsapp:whatsapp:*:*:*:*:desktop:windows:*:*
More vulnerabilities in Whatsapp
- CVE-2022-36934 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): An integer overflow in WhatsApp could result in remote code execution in an established video call.
- CVE-2021-24042 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): The calling logic for WhatsApp for Android prior to v2.21.23, WhatsApp Business for Android prior to v2.21.23, WhatsApp…
- CVE-2021-24041 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): A missing bounds check in image blurring code prior to WhatsApp for Android v2.21.22.7 and WhatsApp Business for…
- CVE-2021-24026 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): A missing bounds check within the audio decoding pipeline for WhatsApp calls in WhatsApp for Android prior to v2.21.3,…
- CVE-2020-1909 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): A use-after-free in a logging library in WhatsApp for iOS prior to v2.20.111 and WhatsApp Business for iOS prior to…
- CVE-2020-1907 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): A stack overflow in WhatsApp for Android prior to v2.20.196.16, WhatsApp Business for Android prior to v2.20.196.12,…
Other CWE-362 (Race Condition) vulnerabilities
- CVE-2022-27626 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): A vulnerability regarding concurrent execution using shared resource with improper synchronization ('Race Condition')…
- CVE-2015-8556 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): Local privilege escalation vulnerability in the Gentoo QEMU package before 2.5.0-r1.
- CVE-2014-0703 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): Cisco Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) devices 7.4 before 7.4.110.0 distribute Aironet IOS software with a race condition…
- CVE-2010-1228 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): Multiple race conditions in the sandbox infrastructure in Google Chrome before 4.1.249.1036 have unspecified impact and…
- CVE-2008-6598 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): Multiple race conditions in WANPIPE before 3.3.6 have unknown impact and attack vectors related to "bri restart logic."
- CVE-2026-46137 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mptcp: pm: ADD_ADDR rtx: fix potential…