CVE-2023-4641 | Shadow-utils: possible password leak during passwd(1) change

A flaw was found in shadow-utils. When asking for a new password, shadow-utils asks the password twice. If the password fails on the second attempt, shadow-utils fails in cleaning the buffer used to store the first entry. This may allow an attacker with enough access to retrieve the password from the memory.

Published: 2023-12-27 Last update: 2025-11-03 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2023-4641 is rated Low Risk (24.9/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.26%). 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-2023-4641

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 0.02% 0.26% +0.24%
2 2025-11-21 0.07% 0.02% -0.05%
3 2025-11-18 — 0.07% —

Full EPSS history (8 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-4641

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
4.7 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/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:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
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.
 1.0 3.6 [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-2023-4641

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-4641

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2023-4641 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (shadow), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-4641
redhat low — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-4641
suse low CVE-2023-4641 severity low: SUSE including 352 source package names (1.1.2-2.10:libsubid5-4.17.2-150600.17.18.1, 1.1.2-2.10:login_defs-4.17.2-150600.17.18.1, …), 766 product×package rows across 266 product lines (Container bci/bci-init, Container bci/bci-sle15-kernel-module-devel, … (266 product lines)): Fixed 586, Known Affected 180. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-4641/
ubuntu low CVE-2023-4641 low priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (shadow), 12 status rows across 12 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 7, not-affected 4, ignored 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-4641

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-4641

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
shadow-maint shadow-utils < 4.14.0 cpe:2.3:a:shadow-maint:shadow-utils:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat codeready_linux_builder 8.0 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:codeready_linux_builder:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat codeready_linux_builder 9.0 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:codeready_linux_builder:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat codeready_linux_builder_for_arm64 8.0_aarch64 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:codeready_linux_builder_for_arm64:8.0_aarch64:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat codeready_linux_builder_for_arm64 9.0_aarch64 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:codeready_linux_builder_for_arm64:9.0_aarch64:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat codeready_linux_builder_for_ibm_z_systems 8.0_s390x cpe:2.3:a:redhat:codeready_linux_builder_for_ibm_z_systems:8.0_s390x:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat codeready_linux_builder_for_ibm_z_systems 9.0_s390x cpe:2.3:a:redhat:codeready_linux_builder_for_ibm_z_systems:9.0_s390x:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat codeready_linux_builder_for_power_little_endian 8.0_ppc64le cpe:2.3:a:redhat:codeready_linux_builder_for_power_little_endian:8.0_ppc64le:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat codeready_linux_builder_for_power_little_endian 9.0_ppc64le cpe:2.3:a:redhat:codeready_linux_builder_for_power_little_endian:9.0_ppc64le:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
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:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_for_arm_64 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_arm_64:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_for_arm_64 9.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_arm_64:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_for_ibm_z_systems 8.0_s390x cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_ibm_z_systems:8.0_s390x:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_for_ibm_z_systems 9.0_s390x cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_ibm_z_systems:9.0_s390x:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_for_power_little_endian 8.0_ppc64le cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_power_little_endian:8.0_ppc64le:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_for_power_little_endian 9.0_ppc64le cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_power_little_endian:9.0_ppc64le:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-4641

cvelogic Threat Intelligence