CVE-2023-42822 | Unchecked access to font glyph info in xrdp

xrdp is an open source remote desktop protocol server. Access to the font glyphs in xrdp_painter.c is not bounds-checked . Since some of this data is controllable by the user, this can result in an out-of-bounds read within the xrdp executable. The vulnerability allows an out-of-bounds read within a potentially privileged process. On non-Debian platforms, xrdp tends to run as root. Potentially an out-of-bounds write can follow the out-of-bounds read. There is no denial-of-service impact, providing xrdp is running in forking mode. This issue has been addressed in release 0.9.23.1. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.

Published: 2023-09-27 Last update: 2025-11-03 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2023-42822 is rated Low Risk (38/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.34%). Mandatory action: 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-2023-42822

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 0.52% 0.34% -0.18%
2 2025-11-18 0.34% 0.52% +0.18%
3 2025-04-15 0.34%

Full EPSS history (12 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-42822

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
4.6 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N 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:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
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:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
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.
2.1 2.5 [email protected]
6.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N 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: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.
2.8 3.6 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-42822

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-42822

vendor priority summary link
alpine medium CVE-2023-42822: 1 source package rows (xrdp); 16 state rows across 6 repos (3.18-community, 3.19-community, 3.20-community, 3.21-community, 3.22-community, edge-community); fixed 6, open 10. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2023-42822
debian not yet assigned CVE-2023-42822 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (xrdp), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-42822
suse medium https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-42822/
ubuntu medium CVE-2023-42822 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (xrdp), 12 status rows across 12 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 6, not-affected 3, ignored 2, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-42822

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-42822

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
neutrinolabs xrdp < 0.9.23.1 cpe:2.3:a:neutrinolabs:xrdp:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 37 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:37:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 38 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:38:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-42822

cvelogic Threat Intelligence