CVE-2023-38710: libreswan
Vulnerability summary
CVE-2023-38710 is a medium (CVSS 6.5) vulnerability in libreswan. EPSS estimates a 0.81% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 57% of scored vulnerabilities.
Not severe (CVSS 6.5, network access); no exploitation reported by the 5 checked sources
Source freshness unavailable
How is this decided?Advisory lineage
Upstream 0 · Downstream 8Timeline
- 25-08-2023PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
- 26-11-2024Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.
Description
An issue was discovered in Libreswan before 4.12. When an IKEv2 Child SA REKEY packet contains an invalid IPsec protocol ID number of 0 or 1, an error notify INVALID_SPI is sent back. The notify payload's protocol ID is copied from the incoming packet, but the code that verifies outgoing packets fails an assertion that the protocol ID must be ESP (2) or AH(3) and causes the pluto daemon to crash and restart. NOTE: the earliest affected version is 3.20.
CVSS metrics
4 scores · 4 sources · 1 version- OSV · UbuntuEcosystem advisory · calculated6.5MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- OSV · DebianEcosystem advisory · calculated6.5MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- OSV · AlpineEcosystem advisory · calculated6.5MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS trend
Probability
0.81%
Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days
Percentile
57%
Versus all other CVEs
30-day change
No change 0.00 pp
From 0.81% on 04-10-2026
Known exploited
Compare KEV catalogs
CISA KEVNot in the CISA KEV catalog.
ENISA CNWNot in the ENISA CNW catalog.
CIRCLNot in the CIRCL catalog.
Public exploits
0 foundNo public exploits indexed.
Weaknesses
CWE · root causeNo weakness data has been published for this record.
Affected systems
Known conditions: network-reachable, low-privilege account, no user interaction (CVSS vector). Other conditions: not stated in public data.
Alpine1 product
- libreswan≥ 3.20, < 4.12-r0
Debian1 product
- libreswanAll versions (No fix recorded) | < 4.12-1
Libreswan1 product
- libreswan≥ 3.20, < 4.12
Ubuntu1 product
- libreswanAll versions (No fix recorded)
4 vendors · 4 products
References
9 links- github.com/libreswan/libreswan/tagsThird Party Advisory
- libreswan.org/security/CVE-2023-38710/Third Party Advisory
