CVE-2023-37788 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) Uncontrolled Resource Consumption vulnerability in github.com/elazarl/goproxy. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for github.com/elazarl/goproxy — see the affected versions and patch details below.
goproxy Denial of Service vulnerability
Exploitation Status
Proof-of-concept exploit code exists
- CISA’s SSVC triage found public proof-of-concept exploit code for this CVE, though no confirmed active exploitation.
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2023-37788.
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-2023-37788 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
github.com/elazarl/goproxyReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Go packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
goproxy prior to pseudoversion 0.0.0-20230731152917-f99041a5c027 was discovered to contain an issue which can lead to a Denial of service (DoS) via unspecified vectors.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/elazarl/goproxy | all versions | 0.0.0-20230731152917-f99041a5c027go get github.com/elazarl/goproxy@v0.0.0-20230731152917-f99041a5c027 |
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 github.com/elazarl/goproxy, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update github.com/elazarl/goproxy to 0.0.0-20230731152917-f99041a5c027 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-37788 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-2023-37788 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2023-37788. 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.
Goproxy is only susceptible to this vulnerability when used in MITM (Man In The Middle) mode. This use case is not relevant to any Red Hat products, so the impact is rated as Moderate.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.12 for RHEL 9 | rhacm2/acm-cli-rhel9:v2.12.0-17 | RHSA-2024:8974 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.14 | openshift4/ose-aws-ebs-csi-driver-rhel8:v4.14.0-202310201027.p0.g2e2e277.assembly.stream | RHSA-2023:5006 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.14 | openshift4/ose-aws-efs-csi-driver-rhel8-operator:v4.14.0-202310201027.p0.ge7d739f.assembly.stream | RHSA-2023:5007 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.14 | openshift-0:4.14.0-202310210404.p0.gf67aeb3.assembly.stream.el8 | RHSA-2023:5009 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.14 | openshift4/ose-sriov-network-webhook:v4.14.0-202407292140.p0.g96c2605.assembly.stream.el8 | RHSA-2024:4959 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.14 | openshift4/ose-agent-installer-node-agent-rhel9:v4.14.0-202409231809.p0.g4106eb4.assembly.stream.el9 | RHSA-2024:7184 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.15 | openshift4/frr-rhel9:v4.15.0-202407191406.p0.ga8191c0.assembly.stream.el9 | RHBA-2024:4698 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.15 | openshift4/ose-agent-installer-csr-approver-rhel8:v4.15.0-202402151807.p0.g5305999.assembly.stream.el8 | RHSA-2023:7198 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2023-37788 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2023-37788 across Go dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.