CVE-2023-5422 | SSL Certificates are not checked for E-Mail Handling

The functions to fetch e-mail via POP3 or IMAP as well as sending e-mail via SMTP use OpenSSL for static SSL or TLS based communication. As the SSL_get_verify_result() function is not used the certificated is trusted always and it can not be ensured that the certificate satisfies all necessary security requirements. This could allow an attacker to use an invalid certificate to claim to be a trusted host, use expired certificates, or conduct other attacks that could be detected if the certificate is properly validated. This issue affects OTRS: from 7.0.X before 7.0.47, from 8.0.X before 8.0.37; ((OTRS)) Community Edition: from 6.0.X through 6.0.34.

Published: 2023-10-16 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2023-5422 is rated Moderate Risk (41.6/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.28%). Mandatory action: Review affected assets and schedule 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-2023-5422

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 0.19% 0.28% +0.09%
2 2025-12-28 0.15% 0.19% +0.04%
3 2025-12-27 0.15%

Full EPSS history (12 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-5422

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
8.7 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/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:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
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:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
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:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
2.2 5.8 [email protected]
9.1 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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: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:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
3.9 5.2 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-5422

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-5422

vendor priority summary link
ubuntu medium CVE-2023-5422 medium priority: Ubuntu including 2 source packages (otrs2, znuny), 24 status rows across 12 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 11, needs-triage 8, ignored 5. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-5422

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-5422

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
otrs otrs >= 6.0.0, <= 6.0.34 cpe:2.3:a:otrs:otrs:*:*:*:*:community:*:*:*
otrs otrs >= 7.0.0, < 7.0.47 cpe:2.3:a:otrs:otrs:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
otrs otrs >= 8.0.0, < 8.0.37 cpe:2.3:a:otrs:otrs:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-5422

cvelogic Threat Intelligence