Golioth Firmware SDK version 0.10.0 prior to 0.22.0, fixed in commit 48f521b, contain a stack-based buffer overflow in Payload Utils. The golioth_payload_as_int() and golioth_payload_as_float() helpers copy network-supplied payload data into fixed-size stack buffers using memcpy() with a length derived from payload_size. The only length checks are guarded by assert(); in release builds, the asserts are compiled out and memcpy() may copy an unbounded payload_size. Payloads larger than 12 bytes (int) or 32 bytes (float) can overflow the stack, resulting in a crash/denial of service. This is reachable via LightDB State on_payload with a malicious server or MITM.
Weakness
A stack-based buffer overflow condition is a condition where the buffer being overwritten is allocated on the stack (i.e., is a local variable or, rarely, a parameter to a function).
Potential Mitigations
- Use automatic buffer overflow detection mechanisms that are offered by certain compilers or compiler extensions. Examples include: the Microsoft Visual Studio /GS flag, Fedora/Red Hat FORTIFY_SOURCE GCC flag, StackGuard, and ProPolice, which provide various mechanisms including canary-based detection and range/index checking.
- D3-SFCV (Stack Frame Canary Validation) from D3FEND [REF-1334] discusses canary-based detection in detail.
- Run or compile the software using features or extensions that randomly arrange the positions of a program’s executable and libraries in memory. Because this makes the addresses unpredictable, it can prevent an attacker from reliably jumping to exploitable code.
- Examples include Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) [REF-58] [REF-60] and Position-Independent Executables (PIE) [REF-64]. Imported modules may be similarly realigned if their default memory addresses conflict with other modules, in a process known as “rebasing” (for Windows) and “prelinking” (for Linux) [REF-1332] using randomly generated addresses. ASLR for libraries cannot be used in conjunction with prelink since it would require relocating the libraries at run-time, defeating the whole purpose of prelinking.
- For more information on these techniques see D3-SAOR (Segment Address Offset Randomization) from D3FEND [REF-1335].
References
- https://blog.secmate.dev/posts/golioth-vulnerabilities-disclosure/
- https://github.com/golioth/golioth-firmware-sdk/commit/48f521bcc0187ada2b9cbdad31dc380e6c7b7332
- https://github.com/golioth/golioth-firmware-sdk/releases/tag/v0.22.0
- https://secmate.dev/disclosures/SECMATE-2025-0015
- https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/golioth-firmware-sdk-payload-utils-stack-based-buffer-overflow