CVE-2023-42801: Moonlight-common-c contains the core GameStream client code shared between Moonlight clients.

Moonlight-common-c contains the core GameStream client code shared between Moonlight clients.

Moonlight-common-c contains the core GameStream client code shared between Moonlight clients. Moonlight-common-c is vulnerable to buffer overflow starting in commit f57bd745b4cbed577ea654fad4701bea4d38b44c. A malicious game streaming server could exploit a buffer overflow vulnerability to crash a moonlight client. Achieving RCE is possible but unlikely, due to stack canaries in use by modern compiler toolchains. The published binaries for official clients Qt, Android, iOS/tvOS, and Embedded are built with stack canaries, but some unofficial clients may not use stack canaries. This vulnerability takes place after the pairing process, so it requires the client to be tricked into pairing to a malicious host. It is not possible to perform using a man-in-the-middle due to public key pinning that takes place during the pairing process. The bug was addressed in commit b2497a3918a6d79808d9fd0c04734786e70d5954.

Description from the National Vulnerability Database, published by GitHub

What it means for a small business

If your business uses moonlight-common-c, install the vendor's update. If you're not sure whether you use it, ask whoever manages your computers.

How likely is an attack? The Exploit Prediction Scoring System, run by FIRST (the global association of security response teams), puts the odds of this one being exploited in the next 30 days at 0.94%, higher than 60% of CVEs. That’s low, but low isn’t zero, and the odds jump the day someone publishes an exploit. Scored October 29, 2026, updated daily.

Check your own setup

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Sources

Part of the Huttenlocher Technologies vulnerability database, refreshed twice a day from CISA and the NVD. The title, category and plain-language guidance are ours; check the linked record before acting on a detail. This is general guidance, not a review of your systems.

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