CVE-2023-0216 — openssl-src
HIGHCVE-2023-0216 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) NULL Pointer Dereference vulnerability in openssl-src. A fix is available for openssl-src — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Invalid pointer dereference in d2i_PKCS7 functions
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2023-0216.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
Where this sits among everything scored
Real-World Exposure
openssl-srcReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects crates.io packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
An invalid pointer dereference on read can be triggered when an application tries to load malformed PKCS7 data with the d2i_PKCS7(), d2i_PKCS7_bio() or d2i_PKCS7_fp() functions.
The result of the dereference is an application crash which could lead to a denial of service attack. The TLS implementation in OpenSSL does not call this function however third party applications might call these functions on untrusted data.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🦀crates.io | openssl-src | ≥ 300.0.0&&< 300.0.12 | 300.0.12cargo update -p openssl-src --precise 300.0.12 |
Affected Products
opensslopensslstormshield management centerstormshieldDetection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for openssl-src, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update openssl-src to 300.0.12 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-0216 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Cap what an attacker can consume: apply request size, rate and timeout limits in front of the affected component, and run it with memory and CPU limits so exhaustion degrades one worker rather than the whole service.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, 7, and 8 ships OpenSSL 1.1.1 and 1.0.2 which do not contain the incorrect code, so those are not affected by this CVE. Similarly, the versions of `shim` as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 and 9 are not affected by this issue.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | openssl-1:3.0.1-47.el9_1 | RHSA-2023:0946 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.0 Extended Update Support | openssl-1:3.0.1-46.el9_0 | RHSA-2023:1199 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2023-0216 in your dependencies?
Find it across crates.io, including transitive dependencies.