CVE-2023-25656 | notation-go has excessive memory allocation on verification

notation-go is a collection of libraries for supporting Notation sign, verify, push, and pull of oci artifacts. Prior to version 1.0.0-rc.3, notation-go users will find their application using excessive memory when verifying signatures. The application will be killed, and thus availability is impacted. The problem has been patched in the release v1.0.0-rc.3. Some workarounds are available. Users can review their own trust policy file and check if the identity string contains `=#`. Meanwhile, users should only put trusted certificates in their trust stores referenced by their own trust policy files, and make sure the `authenticity` validation is set to `enforce`.

Published: 2023-02-20 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2023-25656 is rated Moderate Risk (52.4/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.44%). Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-25656

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-04-19 0.16% 0.44% +0.28%
2 2026-02-23 0.14% 0.16% +0.02%
3 2026-02-07 — 0.14% —

Full EPSS history (13 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-25656

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.5 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 3.9 3.6 [email protected]
7.5 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 3.9 3.6 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-25656

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2023-25656

GHSA-87x9-7grx-m28v · Severity: high · Ecosystem: go — notation-go has excessive memory allocation on verification

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-25656

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2023-25656 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (golang-github-notaryproject-notation-go), 2 status rows across 2 suites (forky, sid): resolved 2. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-25656

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-25656

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
notaryproject notation-go 0.7.0 cpe:2.3:a:notaryproject:notation-go:0.7.0:alpha1:*:*:*:*:*:*
notaryproject notation-go 0.8.0 cpe:2.3:a:notaryproject:notation-go:0.8.0:alpha1:*:*:*:*:*:*
notaryproject notation-go 0.9.0 cpe:2.3:a:notaryproject:notation-go:0.9.0:alpha1:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-25656

cvelogic Threat Intelligence