CVE-2023-42800
CWE-120Published: December 14, 2023· Updated: Jun 17, 2026
Official Description
Moonlight-common-c contains the core GameStream client code shared between Moonlight clients. Moonlight-common-c is vulnerable to buffer overflow starting in commit 50c0a51b10ecc5b3415ea78c21d96d679e2288f9 due to unmitigated usage of unsafe C functions and improper bounds checking. A malicious game streaming server could exploit a buffer overflow vulnerability to crash a moonlight client, or achieve remote code execution (RCE) on the client (with insufficient exploit mitigations or if mitigations can be bypassed). The bug was addressed in commit 24750d4b748fefa03d09fcfd6d45056faca354e0.
Technical Analysis
CVE-2023-42800 can be exploited remotely over the network without requiring physical or adjacent access, significantly expanding the attack surface for threat actors.
Exploitation does not require any privileges, though user interaction (Required) is needed, which slightly reduces the risk of mass automated attacks.
A successful exploit results in complete confidentiality breach (data exposure), full integrity compromise (data manipulation), availability disruption (denial of service), with a CVSS base score of 8.8.
CVSS v3.1 Vector Breakdown
Affected Vendors & Products
Exploit & PoC Resources
Official Patches & Advisories
All References (8)
Quick Facts
Related CVEs (CWE-120)
Recommended Actions
- →Apply vendor patches immediately
- →Monitor CVE-2023-42800 in threat intel feeds
- →Review IDS/IPS signatures for exploitation attempts