CVE-2023-5616

Exp

In Ubuntu, gnome-control-center did not properly reflect SSH remote login status when the system was configured to use systemd socket activation for openssh-server. This could unknowingly leave the local machine exposed to remote SSH access contrary to expectation of the user.

Published: 2025-04-15 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2023-5616 is rated Exploit Available (50/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.19%). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2023-5616

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-5616

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 0.05% 0.19% +0.15%
2 2025-05-27 0.06% 0.05% -0.01%
3 2025-04-16 — 0.06% —

Full EPSS history (3 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-5616

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
4.9 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L 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: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: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:L)
Might cause slowdowns, glitches, or partial disruption—not a full brick.
 1.4 3.4 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-5616

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-5616

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2023-5616 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (gnome-control-center), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): open 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-5616
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-5616
suse medium CVE-2023-5616 severity moderate: SUSE including 7 source package names (gnome-control-center, gnome-control-center-color, …), 92 product×package rows across 30 product lines (SLES-LTSS-TERADATA 15 SP2, SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP3-LTSS, … (30 product lines)): Known Not Affected 92. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-5616/
ubuntu medium CVE-2023-5616 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (gnome-control-center), 12 status rows across 12 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 8, needs-triage 3, ignored 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-5616

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-5616

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
gnome control_center >= 1.3, < 1.3.36.5-0ubuntu4.1 cpe:2.3:a:gnome:control_center:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnome control_center >= 1.41, < 1.41.7-0ubuntu0.22.04.8 cpe:2.3:a:gnome:control_center:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnome control_center >= 1.44, < 1.44.0-1ubuntu6.1 cpe:2.3:a:gnome:control_center:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnome control_center >= 1.45, < 1.45.0-1ubuntu3.1 cpe:2.3:a:gnome:control_center:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 20.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:20.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 22.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:22.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 23.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:23.04:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 23.10 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:23.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-5616

cvelogic Threat Intelligence