CVE-2023-27493 | Envoy doesn't escape HTTP header values

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Envoy is an open source edge and service proxy designed for cloud-native applications. Prior to versions 1.26.0, 1.25.3, 1.24.4, 1.23.6, and 1.22.9, Envoy does not sanitize or escape request properties when generating request headers. This can lead to characters that are illegal in header values to be sent to the upstream service. In the worst case, it can cause upstream service to interpret the original request as two pipelined requests, possibly bypassing the intent of Envoy’s security policy. Versions 1.26.0, 1.25.3, 1.24.4, 1.23.6, and 1.22.9 contain a patch. As a workaround, disable adding request headers based on the downstream request properties, such as downstream certificate properties.

Published: 2023-04-04 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2023-27493 is rated High Exploit Risk (61.6/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.51%). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

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

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2023-27493

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-27493

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 2026-06-15 0.02% 0.51% +0.48%
2 2025-03-30 0.08% 0.02% -0.05%
3 2025-03-29 — 0.08% —

Full EPSS history (7 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-27493

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
8.1 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N 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:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 2.8 5.2 [email protected]
9.1 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N 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:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 3.9 5.2 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-27493

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-27493

vendor priority summary link
redhat high — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-27493

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-27493

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
envoyproxy envoy < 1.22.9 cpe:2.3:a:envoyproxy:envoy:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
envoyproxy envoy >= 1.23.0, < 1.23.6 cpe:2.3:a:envoyproxy:envoy:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
envoyproxy envoy >= 1.24.0, < 1.24.4 cpe:2.3:a:envoyproxy:envoy:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
envoyproxy envoy >= 1.25.0, < 1.25.3 cpe:2.3:a:envoyproxy:envoy:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-27493

cvelogic Threat Intelligence