CVE-2023-47038 [High] | Memory Corruption in Perl

CVE-2023-47038 is rated Low Risk (38.6/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.14%). Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

#	Date	Old EPSS score	New EPSS score	Delta (New - Old)
1	2025-03-30	0.33%	0.14%	-0.19%
2	2025-03-29	0.14%	0.33%	+0.19%
3	2025-03-28	—	0.14%	—

Date

Old EPSS score

New EPSS score

Delta (New - Old)

2025-03-30

0.33%

0.14%

-0.19%

2025-03-29

0.14%

0.33%

+0.19%

2025-03-28

—

0.14%

—

Base score	Version	Severity	Vector	Exploitability	Impact	Score source
7.0	3.1	HIGH	`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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: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: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.	1.0	5.9	[email protected]
7.8	3.1	HIGH	`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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: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.	1.8	5.9	[email protected]

Base score

Version

Severity

Vector

Exploitability

Impact

Score source

7.0

3.1

HIGH

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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: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: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.

1.0

5.9

[email protected]

7.8

3.1

HIGH

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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: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.

1.8

5.9

[email protected]

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-47038

vendor	priority	summary	link
`alpine`	—	CVE-2023-47038: 1 source package rows (perl); 7 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 0.	https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2023-47038
`debian`	not yet assigned	CVE-2023-47038 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (perl), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5.	https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-47038
`gentoo`	normal	CVE-2023-47038: 1 GLSA(s) (202411-09), 1 atom(s) (dev-lang/perl); latest impact normal.	https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2023-47038
`redhat`	medium	—	https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-47038
`suse`	medium	CVE-2023-47038 severity moderate: SUSE including 340 source package names (perl, perl-32bit, …), 467 product×package rows across 46 product lines (SUSE CaaS Platform 4.0, SUSE Enterprise Storage 7.1, … (46 product lines)): Fixed 334, Known Not Affected 133.	https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-47038/
`ubuntu`	medium	CVE-2023-47038 medium priority: Ubuntu including 3 source packages (perl, perl6, raku), 36 status rows across 12 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 9, ignored 9, released 8, needs-triage 7, not-affected 3.	https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-47038

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-47038

Vendor	Product	Version	Raw CPE
perl	perl	>= 5.30.0, <= 5.38.0	cpe:2.3:a:perl:perl::::::::
fedoraproject	fedora	39	cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:39:::::::*
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_aus	9.4	cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_aus:9.4:::::::*
redhat	enterprise_linux_eus	9.4	cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_eus:9.4:::::::*

References for CVE-2023-47038

URL	Tags
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:2228	Third Party Advisory
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:3128	Third Party Advisory
https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-47038	Broken Link Third Party Advisory
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=1056746	Mailing List Patch
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2249523	Issue Tracking Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/Perl/perl5/commit/12c313ce49b36160a7ca2e9b07ad5bd92ee4a010
https://github.com/Perl/perl5/commit/7047915eef37fccd93e7cd985c29fe6be54650b6
https://github.com/Perl/perl5/commit/ff1f9f59360afeebd6f75ca1502f5c3ebf077da3
https://github.com/aquasecurity/trivy/discussions/8400
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/GNEEWAACXQCEEAKSG7XX2D5YDRWLCIZJ/	Third Party Advisory
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/UMDZZ4SCEW6FRWZDMXGAKZ35THTAWFG6/
https://perldoc.perl.org/perl5382delta#CVE-2023-47038-Write-past-buffer-end-via-illegal-user-defined-Unicode-property	Vendor Advisory
https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-47100
https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-47100.html

URL

CVE-2023-47038 | Perl: write past buffer end via illegal user-defined unicode property

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-47038

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-47038

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-47038

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-47038

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-47038

References for CVE-2023-47038