How severe is CVE-2023-25621?

CVE-2023-25621 has a CVSS score of 6.5/10, rated MEDIUM. Review your exposure and patch according to your risk tolerance.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2023-25621?

CVE-2023-25621 affects the following packages: org.apache.sling:org.apache.sling.i18n (Maven). Ecosystems affected: Maven.

How do I fix CVE-2023-25621?

Update org.apache.sling:org.apache.sling.i18n to 2.6.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-25621 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2023-25621 in my Maven dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.apache.sling:org.apache.sling.i18n, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.

How do I mitigate CVE-2023-25621 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.

How does O3 Security protect against CVE-2023-25621?

O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2023-25621 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.

Is CVE-2023-25621 actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for CVE-2023-25621 yet. This does not mean the vulnerability cannot be exploited — absence of public exploits does not imply safety. Apply the recommended fix and use O3 Security to monitor your exposure.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2023-25621?

CVE-2023-25621 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 1.1%, placing it in the 65th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. This score indicates relatively lower exploitation probability, though the CVSS severity should still guide your patching priority.

When was CVE-2023-25621 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2023-25621 was published on February 23, 2023 and was last updated on August 12, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

☕

☕ Maven

Not in CISA KEV

MEDIUM severity

CVE-2023-25621 — org.apache.sling.i18n

MEDIUMFix: apache/sling-org-apache-sling-i18n#9

CVE-2023-25621 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.5) vulnerability in org.apache.sling:org.apache.sling.i18n. A fix is available for org.apache.sling:org.apache.sling.i18n — see the affected versions and patch details below.

Apache Sling does not allow to handle i18n content in a secure way

Also known asGHSA-mrpv-5pmr-p92h

Published

Feb 23, 2023

Updated

Aug 12, 2026

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

None indexed

Exploitation data as of Sep 25, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

Exploitation Status

No confirmed exploitation observed yet

A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
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-2023-25621.

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

1.1%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs65th percentile — riskier than 65% of all scored CVEsHighest risk

EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.

How urgent is this, really

CVE-2023-25621 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.

Where this sits among everything scored

Of 379,145 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.

Real-World Exposure

1 pkg affected

☕org.apache.sling:org.apache.sling.i18n

Real-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Maven packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.

Description

Privilege Escalation vulnerability in Apache Software Foundation Apache Sling. Any content author is able to create i18n dictionaries in the repository in a location the author has write access to. As these translations are used across the whole product, it allows an author to change any text or dialog in the product. For example an attacker might fool someone by changing the text on a delete button to "Info". This issue affects the i18n module of Apache Sling up to version 2.5.18. Version 2.6.2 and higher limit by default i18m dictionaries to certain paths in the repository (/libs and /apps).

Users of the module are advised to update to version 2.6.2 or higher, check the configuration for resource loading and then adjust the access permissions for the configured path accordingly.

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
☕Maven	`org.apache.sling:org.apache.sling.i18n`	all versions	2.6.2`org.apache.sling:org.apache.sling.i18n:2.6.2`

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.apache.sling:org.apache.sling.i18n, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.apache.sling:org.apache.sling.i18n to 2.6.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-25621 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2023-25621 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.

Tailored to CVE-2023-25621. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.

Frequently Asked Questions

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2023-25621 in your dependencies?

O3 Security finds CVE-2023-25621 across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.

Scan my dependencies How O3 SCA works