CVE-2023-34478 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.8) Path Traversal vulnerability in org.apache.shiro:shiro-web. A fix is available for org.apache.shiro:shiro-web — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Apache Shiro before 1.12.0, or 2.0.0-alpha-3, may be susceptible to a path traversal attack when used together with APIs or other web frameworks that route requests based on non-normalized requests.
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.
- 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-2023-34478.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
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-2023-34478 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 378,156 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
org.apache.shiro:shiro-web☕org.apache.shiro:shiro-webReal-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
Apache Shiro, before 1.12.0 or 2.0.0-alpha-3, may be susceptible to a path traversal attack that results in an authentication bypass when used together with APIs or other web frameworks that route requests based on non-normalized requests.
Mitigation: Update to Apache Shiro 1.12.0+ or 2.0.0-alpha-3+
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.apache.shiro:shiro-web | all versions | 1.12.0org.apache.shiro:shiro-web:1.12.0 |
| ☕Maven | org.apache.shiro:shiro-web | ≥ 2.0.0-alpha-1&&< 2.0.0-alpha-3 | 2.0.0-alpha-3org.apache.shiro:shiro-web:2.0.0-alpha-3 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.apache.shiro:shiro-web, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.apache.shiro:shiro-web to 1.12.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-34478 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-2023-34478 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2023-34478. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2023-34478 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2023-34478 across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.