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🛡️ CVE-2023-0215 on Alpine — openssl

⚪ Unknown ✅ No Known Exploit OSV
N/A
CVSS Score
0 Low4 Medium7 High9 Critical10

Description

The public API function BIO_new_NDEF is a helper function used for streaming

ASN.1 data via a BIO. It is primarily used internally to OpenSSL to support the

SMIME, CMS and PKCS7 streaming capabilities, but may also be called directly by

end user applications.

The function receives a BIO from the caller, prepends a new BIO_f_asn1 filter

BIO onto the front of it to form a BIO chain, and then returns the new head of

the BIO chain to the caller. Under certain conditions, for example if a CMS

recipient public key is invalid, the new filter BIO is freed and the function

returns a NULL result indicating a failure. However, in this case, the BIO chain

is not properly cleaned up and the BIO passed by the caller still retains

internal pointers to the previously freed filter BIO. If the caller then goes on

to call BIO_pop() on the BIO then a use-after-free will occur. This will most

likely result in a crash.

This scenario occurs directly in the internal function B64_write_ASN1() which

may cause BIO_new_NDEF() to be called and will subsequently call BIO_pop() on

the BIO. This internal function is in turn called by the public API functions

PEM_write_bio_ASN1_stream, PEM_write_bio_CMS_stream, PEM_write_bio_PKCS7_stream,

SMIME_write_ASN1, SMIME_write_CMS and SMIME_write_PKCS7.

Other public API functions that may be impacted by this include

i2d_ASN1_bio_stream, BIO_new_CMS, BIO_new_PKCS7, i2d_CMS_bio_stream and

i2d_PKCS7_bio_stream.

The OpenSSL cms and smime command line applications are similarly affected.

Distribution advisory

This page covers CVE-2023-0215 as tracked by Alpine, for the package openssl. The fix is available in version 3.0.8-r0; earlier versions remain affected.

How this vulnerability can be exploited

This issue can be reached over the network, attack complexity is low, an attacker needs no privileges on the target. No user interaction is required. The scope is unchanged, so the impact stays within the vulnerable component. Rated impact: confidentiality none, integrity none, availability high.

CVSS metrics in full

The score comes from this vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

  • Attack vector: Network — reachable from anywhere that can route to the service.
  • Attack complexity: Low — the attack works reliably, with no preparation.
  • Privileges required: None — an unauthenticated stranger can try it.
  • User interaction: None — nobody has to be tricked into anything.
  • Scope: Unchanged — the damage stays inside the vulnerable component.
  • Confidentiality impact: None.
  • Integrity impact: None.
  • Availability impact: High — total loss, or loss the attacker controls.

Weakness class

ALPINE-CVE-2023-0215 is classified as CWE-416: Use After Free. Memory is used after being released, so its contents may already belong to something else.

Affected software

ALPINE-CVE-2023-0215 is recorded against 2 packages.

  • openssl (from 1.0.2 up to 3.0.8-r0)
  • openssl3 (fixed in 3.0.8-r0)

Timeline and source

Published on 8 February 2023 and last revised on 7 August 2026. No public exploit is currently recorded for this entry. Record sourced from OSV.

References

security.alpinelinux.org (Advisory)

Other advisories for this package

openssl has other advisories on record. If you are patching this one, these are worth checking on the same host:

Same weakness in other software

These advisories are the same class of weakness (CWE-416: Use After Free) in other software:

CVE-2023-0215 on other distributions

Each distribution ships its own build and its own fixed version. Pick the one you run:

Details

Severity Unknown
CVSS Score N/A
CVSS Vector CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CWE N/A
Public Exploit ✅ No
Source OSV
Published 2023-02-08
Updated 2026-08-20
Modified 2026-08-07
Fix URL N/A

Affected Packages

Software From version Fixed in
openssl 1.0.2 3.0.8-r0
openssl3 — 3.0.8-r0

Site Security Check

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