GHSA-x3qx-m3c2-qfhx · Severity: low — This flaw allows an attacker to insert cookies at will into a running program using libcurl, if...
This flaw allows an attacker to insert cookies at will into a running program using libcurl, if the specific series of conditions are met. libcurl performs transfers. In its API, an application creates "easy handles" that are the individual handles for single transfers. libcurl provides a function call that duplicates en easy handle called [curl_easy_duphandle](https://curl.se/libcurl/c/curl_easy_duphandle.html). If a transfer has cookies enabled when the handle is duplicated, the cookie-enable state is also cloned - but without cloning the actual cookies. If the source handle did not read any cookies from a specific file on disk, the cloned version of the handle would instead store the file name as `none` (using the four ASCII letters, no quotes). Subsequent use of the cloned handle that does not explicitly set a source to load cookies from would then inadvertently load cookies from a file named `none` - if such a file exists and is readable in the current directory of the program using libcurl. And if using the correct file format of course.
Conclusion & alert: CVE-2023-38546 is rated Moderate Risk (52.2/100): CVSS Low severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 6.21%, 93th percentile). Core evidence: EPSS ranks this CVE among the most likely to be exploited in the near term. EPSS rose +5.77% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. Mandatory action: High exploitation likelihood—assess exposure and prioritize remediation.
Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.
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 | 0.44% | 6.21% | +5.77% |
| 2 | 2026-05-12 | 0.26% | 0.44% | +0.18% |
| 3 | 2026-03-04 | — | 0.26% | — |
Full EPSS history (36 records total)
CVSS metrics for this CVE.
| Base score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability | Impact | Score source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.7 | 3.1 | LOW |
|
2.2 | 1.4 | [email protected] |
GHSA-x3qx-m3c2-qfhx · Severity: low — This flaw allows an attacker to insert cookies at will into a running program using libcurl, if...
| vendor | priority | summary | link |
|---|---|---|---|
alpine
|
— | CVE-2023-38546: 1 source package rows (curl); 192 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 7, open 185. | https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2023-38546 |
debian
|
not yet assigned | CVE-2023-38546 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (curl), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. | https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-38546 |
gentoo
|
high | CVE-2023-38546: 1 GLSA(s) (202310-12), 1 atom(s) (net-misc/curl); latest impact high. | https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2023-38546 |
redhat
|
low | — | https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-38546 |
suse
|
medium | CVE-2023-38546 severity moderate: SUSE including 343 source package names (1.2.3-2.2.19:libcurl4-8.0.1-150400.5.32.1, 1.2.3-3.2.19:libcurl4-8.0.1-150400.5.32.1, …), 780 product×package rows across 241 product lines (Container bci/bci-init, Container bci/golang, … (241 product lines)): Fixed 600, Known Affected 180. | https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-38546/ |
ubuntu
|
low | CVE-2023-38546 low priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (curl), 12 status rows across 12 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 11, needs-triage 1. | https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-38546 |