CVE-2023-36812 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.8) CWE-74 vulnerability in net.opentsdb:opentsdb. 3 public exploit references exist, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for net.opentsdb:opentsdb — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Remote Code Execution in OpenTSDB
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-2023-36812.
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-2023-36812 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 377,636 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the 10–50% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
net.opentsdb:opentsdbReal-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
OpenTSDB is a open source, distributed, scalable Time Series Database (TSDB). OpenTSDB is vulnerable to Remote Code Execution vulnerability by writing user-controlled input to Gnuplot configuration file and running Gnuplot with the generated configuration. This issue has been patched in commit 07c4641471c and further refined in commit fa88d3e4b. These patches are available in the 2.4.2 release. Users are advised to upgrade. User unable to upgrade may disable Gunuplot via the config optiontsd.core.enable_ui = true and remove the shell files mygnuplot.bat and mygnuplot.sh.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | net.opentsdb:opentsdb | all versions | 2.4.2net.opentsdb:opentsdb:2.4.2 |
Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for net.opentsdb:opentsdb, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update net.opentsdb:opentsdb to 2.4.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-36812 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-2023-36812 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2023-36812. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2023-36812 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2023-36812 across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.