CVE-2023-38473 | Reachable assertion in avahi_alternative_host_name

A vulnerability was found in Avahi. A reachable assertion exists in the avahi_alternative_host_name() function.

Published: 2023-11-02 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2023-38473 is rated Low Risk (32.8/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.31%). 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-2023-38473

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 0.01% 0.31% +0.30%
2 2025-11-21 0.07% 0.01% -0.06%
3 2025-11-18 — 0.07% —

Full EPSS history (8 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-38473

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.2 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H 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: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.
 2.5 3.6 [email protected]
5.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H 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: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.
 1.8 3.6 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-38473

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-38473

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2023-38473: 1 source package rows (avahi); 23 state rows across 7 repos (3.17-main, 3.18-main, 3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, edge-main); fixed 19, open 4. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2023-38473
debian not yet assigned CVE-2023-38473 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (avahi), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-38473
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-38473
suse medium CVE-2023-38473 severity moderate: SUSE including 425 source package names (2.0.2-4.2.20:avahi-0.8-150400.7.10.1, 2.0.2-4.2.20:libavahi-common3-0.8-150400.7.10.1, …), 896 product×package rows across 172 product lines (Container suse/pcp, Container suse/sle-micro-rancher/5.2, … (172 product lines)): Fixed 711, Known Affected 185. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-38473/
ubuntu medium CVE-2023-38473 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (avahi), 9 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 7, ignored 1, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-38473

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-38473

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
avahi avahi < 0.9 cpe:2.3:a:avahi:avahi:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux 9.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-38473

cvelogic Threat Intelligence