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No exploitation reportedFix available

CVE-2023-38710

No exploitation reported by the sources we read.

  • Published2023-08-25
  • Fixed in4.12

Am I affected?

With a domain, we read the version its public headers and pages expose. A distribution build can carry the fix under an older number.

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.

Timeline

dates in UTC
  1. 2023-08-2521:15CVE publishedNVD

Observed activity

isMalicious corpus · updated 2026-10-23 21:37 UTC
Indicators tagged with this CVE, per day0 indicators over 7 days
Block these indicators
  • Firewall list (EDL, text): https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2023-38710?format=txt
  • CSV export: https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2023-38710?format=csv
  • TAXII collection of exploited CVEs
  • The EDL and CSV take an API key on the Pro plan.

Versions per branch

NVD
Libreswan
BranchAffectedFixed in
4.12≥ 3.20, < 4.124.12

as publishedRanges as NVD and OSV publish them; a distribution’s build can be fixed under an older number.

Distribution builds and vendor advisories

Packages from OSV.dev and products from the vendors' CSAF advisories.

version not verifiedVersions not verified: read as OSV.dev and the vendors publish them, not checked against each vendor's release list.

Packages

  • libreswanAlmaLinux:9all versions · fixed in 4.12-1.el9
  • libreswanAlmaLinux:8all versions · fixed in 4.12-2.el8

Vendor advisories

  • RHSA-2025:0309 Red Hat Product Security13 products fixed

    Red Hat Security Advisory: libreswan security update

  • RHSA-2024:10594 Red Hat Product Security13 products fixed

    Red Hat Security Advisory: libreswan security update

  • RHSA-2023:7052 Red Hat Product Security13 products fixed

    Red Hat Security Advisory: libreswan security update

  • RHSA-2023:6549 Red Hat Product Security13 products fixed

    Red Hat Security Advisory: libreswan security update

Full record on NVD

Fix

  1. Update Libreswan to 4.12
  2. Vendor fix Red Hat Product Security RHSA-2025:0309 · 13 productsFor details on how to apply this update, which includes the changes described in this advisory, refer to: https://access.redhat.com/articles/11258

Detection

Nuclei template
none so far
ProjectDiscovery
Exploit-DB
no entry
Exploit-DB
Proof-of-concept repositories
none listed
PoC-in-GitHub

Sources

Technical details

CVSS v3 Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Published
2023-08-25
Last Modified
2026-06-17
NVD status
Modified

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2023-38710?

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.

Is CVE-2023-38710 actively exploited?

Active exploitation of CVE-2023-38710 has not been confirmed. Its EPSS score was 0.8% on 2026-10-23, the estimated probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2023-38710?

CVE-2023-38710 has a CVSS v3 base score of 6.5 (MEDIUM severity), with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

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Surveillance reads the versions in your stack — a domain, a lockfile or a list — checks each CVE against the ranges its sources publish, and alerts you when one you run is exploited or enters CISA KEV. A version it cannot read stays « version not verified ».

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