CVE-2023-45823
HIGHCVE-2023-45823 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) Path Traversal vulnerability in github.com/artifacthub/hub. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2023-45823 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
Arbitrary file read in Artifact Hub
Blast Radius
github.com/artifacthub/hubReal-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
Artifact Hub is a web-based application that enables finding, installing, and publishing packages and configurations for CNCF projects. During a security audit of Artifact Hub's code base a security researcher identified a bug in which by using symbolic links in certain kinds of repositories loaded into Artifact Hub, it was possible to read internal files. Artifact Hub indexes content from a variety of sources, including git repositories. When processing git based repositories, Artifact Hub clones the repository and, depending on the artifact kind, reads some files from it. During this process, in some cases, no validation was done to check if the file was a symbolic link. This made possible to read arbitrary files in the system, potentially leaking sensitive information. This issue has been resolved in version 1.16.0. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/artifacthub/hub | all versions | 1.16.0 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/artifacthub/hub. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update github.com/artifacthub/hub to 1.16.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-45823 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 pinpoints whether CVE-2023-45823 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to CVE-2023-45823. 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-2023-45823 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2023-45823 across Go dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.