CVE-2023-36476 | `calamares-nixos-extensions` LUKS keyfile exposure

Exp

calamares-nixos-extensions provides Calamares branding and modules for NixOS, a distribution of GNU/Linux. Users of calamares-nixos-extensions version 0.3.12 and prior who installed NixOS through the graphical calamares installer, with an unencrypted `/boot`, on either non-UEFI systems or with a LUKS partition different from `/` have their LUKS key file in `/boot` as a plaintext CPIO archive attached to their NixOS initrd. A patch is available and anticipated to be part of version 0.3.13 to backport to NixOS 22.11, 23.05, and unstable channels. Expert users who have a copy of their data may, as a workaround, re-encrypt the LUKS partition(s) themselves.

Published: 2023-06-29 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2023-36476 is rated Exploit Available (59.7/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.16%). Core evidence: 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Mandatory action: 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-2023-36476

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-36476

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 0.05% 0.16% +0.11%
2 2025-11-18 0.16% 0.05% -0.11%
3 2025-04-15 0.16%

Full EPSS history (8 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-36476

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.9 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:L/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
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: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:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
2.5 4.7 [email protected]
5.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
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:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
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:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
1.8 3.6 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-36476

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-36476

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
nixos calamares-nixos-extensions < 0.3.13 cpe:2.3:a:nixos:calamares-nixos-extensions:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-36476

cvelogic Threat Intelligence