CVE-2023-33959 | Verification bypass can cause users into verifying the wrong artifact

notation is a CLI tool to sign and verify OCI artifacts and container images. An attacker who has compromised a registry can cause users to verify the wrong artifact. The problem has been fixed in the release v1.0.0-rc.6. Users should upgrade their notation-go library to v1.0.0-rc.6 or above. Users unable to upgrade may restrict container registries to a set of secure and trusted container registries.

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

CVE-2023-33959 is rated Moderate Risk (48.1/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.20%). 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-2023-33959

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 2026-06-07 0.11% 0.20% +0.09%
2 2025-11-21 0.18% 0.11% -0.07%
3 2025-11-18 — 0.18% —

Full EPSS history (7 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-33959

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
8.3 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/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:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
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:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
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:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.6 6.0 [email protected]
8.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/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: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:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 2.8 5.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-33959

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2023-33959

GHSA-xhg5-42rf-296r · Severity: high · Ecosystem: go — notation-go's verification bypass can cause users to verify the wrong artifact

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-33959

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
notaryproject notation-go < 1.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:notaryproject:notation-go:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
notaryproject notation-go 1.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:notaryproject:notation-go:1.0.0:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
notaryproject notation-go 1.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:notaryproject:notation-go:1.0.0:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
notaryproject notation-go 1.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:notaryproject:notation-go:1.0.0:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*
notaryproject notation-go 1.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:notaryproject:notation-go:1.0.0:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:*
notaryproject notation-go 1.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:notaryproject:notation-go:1.0.0:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-33959

cvelogic Threat Intelligence