CVE-2023-31439

An issue was discovered in systemd 253. An attacker can modify the contents of past events in a sealed log file and then adjust the file such that checking the integrity shows no error, despite modifications. NOTE: the vendor reportedly sent "a reply denying that any of the finding was a security vulnerability."

Published: 2023-06-13 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2023-31439 is rated Low Risk (30.5/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.09%). Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

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-2023-31439

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 2025-11-21 0.17% 0.09% -0.07%
2 2025-11-18 0.06% 0.17% +0.10%
3 2023-06-24 — 0.06% —

Full EPSS history (4 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-31439

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.3 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/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:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 3.9 1.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-31439

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-31439

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2023-31439 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (systemd), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): open 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-31439
suse low CVE-2023-31439 severity low: SUSE including 17 source package names (libsystemd0, libsystemd0-32bit, …), 404 product×package rows across 41 product lines (SUSE CaaS Platform 4.0, SUSE Enterprise Storage 7, … (41 product lines)): Will Not Fix 404. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-31439/
ubuntu medium CVE-2023-31439 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (systemd), 8 status rows across 8 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, kinetic, lunar, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 6, ignored 1, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-31439

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-31439

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
systemd_project systemd 253 cpe:2.3:a:systemd_project:systemd:253:-:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-31439

cvelogic Threat Intelligence