CVE-2023-41913

strongSwan before 5.9.12 has a buffer overflow and possible unauthenticated remote code execution via a DH public value that exceeds the internal buffer in charon-tkm's DH proxy. The earliest affected version is 5.3.0. An attack can occur via a crafted IKE_SA_INIT message.

Published: 2023-12-07 Last update: 2025-12-18 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2023-41913 is rated High Risk (71.6/100): CVSS Critical severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 5.46%, 90th percentile). EPSS ranks this CVE among the most likely to be exploited in the near term. 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.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-41913

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 2026-05-27 4.61% 5.46% +0.84%
2 2026-05-22 5.32% 4.61% -0.70%
3 2025-12-22 — 5.32% —

Full EPSS history (25 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-41913

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
9.8 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/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: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: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.
 3.9 5.9 [email protected]
9.8 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/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: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: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.
 3.9 5.9 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-41913

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-41913

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2023-41913: 1 source package rows (strongswan); 47 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 40. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2023-41913
debian not yet assigned CVE-2023-41913 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (strongswan), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-41913
gentoo normal CVE-2023-41913: 1 GLSA(s) (202507-04), 1 atom(s) (net-vpn/strongswan); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2023-41913
suse high CVE-2023-41913 severity important: SUSE including 41 source package names (strongswan, strongswan-5.8.2-150000.4.23.2, …), 144 product×package rows across 34 product lines (SUSE CaaS Platform 4.0, SUSE Enterprise Storage 7.1, … (34 product lines)): Fixed 105, Known Not Affected 39. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-41913/
ubuntu medium CVE-2023-41913 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (strongswan), 8 status rows across 8 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, lunar, mantic, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 7, not-affected 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-41913

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-41913

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
strongswan strongswan >= 5.3.0, < 5.9.12 cpe:2.3:a:strongswan:strongswan:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-41913

cvelogic Threat Intelligence