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Vulnerability Intelligence

CVE-2023-48795

MediumExploitedPublic exploit

Prefix Truncation Attack against ChaCha20-Poly1305 and Encrypt-then-MAC aka Terrapin

Published Dec 18, 2023 · Updated Oct 16, 2026 · Also known as ALPINE-CVE-2023-48795, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-48795, DLA-3718-1, DLA-3719-1, DLA-3730-1, DLA-3975-1, DLA-4132-1, DSA-5586-1, DSA-5588-1, DSA-5591-1, DSA-5599-1, DSA-5600-1, DSA-5601-1, DSA-5750-1, DSA-5906-1, GHSA-45x7-px36-x8w8, GO-2023-2402, JLSEC-2025-95, PYSEC-2026-1758, ROOT-APP-PYPI-CVE-2023-48795, SUSE-SU-2023:4902-1, SUSE-SU-2023:4903-1, SUSE-SU-2023:4904-1, SUSE-SU-2023:4905-1, SUSE-SU-2023:4946-1, SUSE-SU-2024:0006-1, SUSE-SU-2024:0035-1, SUSE-SU-2024:0210-1, SUSE-SU-2024:0327-1, SUSE-SU-2024:0430-1, SUSE-SU-2024:0460-1, SUSE-SU-2024:0543-1, SUSE-SU-2024:0558-1, TR-23-0719, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-48795, USN-6560-2, USN-6561-1, USN-6589-1, USN-6598-1, USN-6738-1

Key Facts

Patch immediately
  • CVE-2023-48795 is a medium-severity vulnerability (CVSS 5.9 v3.1) affecting buildah (alpine), doctl (alpine), dropbear (alpine) and 22 more products.
  • It is exploited in the wild, listed in Industry KEV feed since Feb 5, 2025. Public exploit code is available.
  • EPSS estimates a 94% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
  • Fixed versions are available, including aactl 0.4.12-r7, aardvark-dns 2:1.10.0-1.module+el8.10.0+1815+5fe7415e, aardvark-dns 2:1.10.0-1.module+el8.10.0+1843+6892ab28.
  • Brandefense priority: patch immediately, because it is listed as exploited in the wild.

CVSS v3.1

5.9

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N

EPSS (30-day exploit likelihood)

94%

Higher than 99.8% of all scored CVEs

Exploited in the wild

Yes

1 catalog listing

Public exploit code

Available

Proof-of-concept or weaponized module

Get the full CVE-2023-48795 brief as a PDF

Every affected product and fixed release, exploitation status and a first 24 hours response checklist, emailed within minutes.

Description

The SSH transport protocol with certain OpenSSH extensions, found in OpenSSH before 9.6 and other products, allows remote attackers to bypass integrity checks such that some packets are omitted (from the extension negotiation message), and a client and server may consequently end up with a connection for which some security features have been downgraded or disabled, aka a Terrapin attack. This occurs because the SSH Binary Packet Protocol (BPP), implemented by these extensions, mishandles the handshake phase and mishandles use of sequence numbers. For example, there is an effective attack against SSH's use of ChaCha20-Poly1305 (and CBC with Encrypt-then-MAC). The bypass occurs in chacha20-poly1305@openssh.com and (if CBC is used) the -etm@openssh.com MAC algorithms. This also affects Maverick Synergy Java SSH API before 3.1.0-SNAPSHOT, Dropbear through 2022.83, Ssh before 5.1.1 in Erlang/OTP, PuTTY before 0.80, AsyncSSH before 2.14.2, golang.org/x/crypto before 0.17.0, libssh before 0.10.6, libssh2 through 1.11.0, Thorn Tech SFTP Gateway before 3.4.6, Tera Term before 5.1, Paramiko before 3.4.0, jsch before 0.2.15, SFTPGo before 2.5.6, Netgate pfSense Plus through 23.09.1, Netgate pfSense CE through 2.7.2, HPN-SSH through 18.2.0, ProFTPD before 1.3.8b (and before 1.3.9rc2), ORYX CycloneSSH before 2.3.4, NetSarang XShell 7 before Build 0144, CrushFTP before 10.6.0, ConnectBot SSH library before 2.2.22, Apache MINA sshd through 2.11.0, sshj through 0.37.0, TinySSH through 20230101, trilead-ssh2 6401, LANCOM LCOS and LANconfig, FileZilla before 3.66.4, Nova before 11.8, PKIX-SSH before 14.4, SecureCRT before 9.4.3, Transmit5 before 5.10.4, Win32-OpenSSH before 9.5.0.0p1-Beta, WinSCP before 6.2.2, Bitvise SSH Server before 9.32, Bitvise SSH Client before 9.33, KiTTY through 0.76.1.13, the net-ssh gem 7.2.0 for Ruby, the mscdex ssh2 module before 1.15.0 for Node.js, the thrussh library before 0.35.1 for Rust, and the Russh crate before 0.40.2 for Rust.

Known-Exploited Catalog Listings

CatalogAddedRemediation dueRansomware use
Industry KEV feedFeb 5, 2025n/aNot reported

Required action: Apply remediations or mitigations per vendor instructions or discontinue use of the product if remediation or mitigations are unavailable.

Affected Products

2,042 affected entries in total
ProductAffected versionsFixed in
buildahalpineSee advisory1.33.2-r1
doctlalpineSee advisory1.102.0-r0
dropbearalpineSee advisory2022.82-r2
erlang26alpineSee advisory26.2.1-r0
erlangalpineSee advisory26.2.1-r0
20 more affected products in the full CVE brief

Patched Releases

aactl

0.4.12-r7

aardvark-dns

2:1.10.0-1.module+el8.10.0+1815+5fe7415e, 2:1.10.0-1.module+el8.10.0+1843+6892ab28, 2:1.10.0-1.module+el8.10.0+90298+77a9814d

actions-runner-controller

0.8.1-r1

amass

4.2.0-r8

apache-parent

31-150200.3.12.1

apache-sshd

2.12.0-1.1, 2.12.0-150200.5.8.1

apache-sshd-javadoc

2.12.0-1.1, 2.12.0-150200.5.8.1

apko

0.12.0-r2

argo-workflows

3.5.2-r3

atlantis

0.27.0-r3

atlantis-fips

0.27.0-r1

azure-aad-pod-identity-mic

1.8.17-r4

bank-vaults

1.20.4-r6

bank-vaults-fips

1.20.4-r3

bom

0.6.0-r0

boring-registry

0.12.0-r1

bouncycastle

1.77-150200.3.24.1

bouncycastle-javadoc

1.77-150200.3.24.1

bouncycastle-jmail

1.77-150200.3.24.1

bouncycastle-mail

1.77-150200.3.24.1

bouncycastle-pg

1.77-150200.3.24.1

bouncycastle-pkix

1.77-150200.3.24.1

bouncycastle-tls

1.77-150200.3.24.1

bouncycastle-util

1.77-150200.3.24.1

buf

1.29.0-r0

Timeline

  1. Publicly disclosed

    Dec 18, 2023

  2. Added to Industry KEV feed

    Feb 5, 2025

  3. Last updated

    Oct 16, 2026

Weakness Type

  • CWE-222 Truncation of Security-relevant Information
  • CWE-345 Insufficient Verification of Data Authenticity
  • CWE-354 Improper Validation of Integrity Check Value

References

15 more references in the full CVE brief

FAQ

Common Questions.

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