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🛡️ CVE-2023-4641 on Ubuntu — shadow

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

Description

A flaw was found in shadow-utils. When asking for a new password, shadow-utils asks the password twice. If the password fails on the second attempt, shadow-utils fails in cleaning the buffer used to store the first entry. This may allow an attacker with enough access to retrieve the password from the memory.

Distribution advisory

This page covers CVE-2023-4641 as tracked by Ubuntu, for the package shadow. The fix is available in version 1:4.8.1-2ubuntu2.2; earlier versions remain affected.

How this vulnerability can be exploited

This issue can be reached with local access to the system, attack complexity is low, an attacker needs low-level privileges on the target. No user interaction is required. The scope is unchanged, so the impact stays within the vulnerable component. Rated impact: confidentiality high, integrity none, availability none.

CVSS metrics in full

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

  • Attack vector: Local — a local account, shell or session on the host is needed.
  • Attack complexity: Low — the attack works reliably, with no preparation.
  • Privileges required: Low — an ordinary user account is enough.
  • User interaction: None — nobody has to be tricked into anything.
  • Scope: Unchanged — the damage stays inside the vulnerable component.
  • Confidentiality impact: High — total loss, or loss the attacker controls.
  • Integrity impact: None.
  • Availability impact: None.

Weakness class

UBUNTU-CVE-2023-4641 is classified as CWE-303: Incorrect Implementation of Authentication Algorithm. The requirements for the product dictate the use of an established authentication algorithm, but the implementation of the algorithm is incorrect.

Affected software

UBUNTU-CVE-2023-4641 is recorded against 1 package.

  • shadow (fixed in 1:4.8.1-2ubuntu2.2)

Timeline and source

Published on 27 December 2023 and last revised on 4 February 2026. No public exploit is currently recorded for this entry. Record sourced from OSV.

References

ubuntu.com (Report)
ubuntu.com (Advisory)
www.cve.org (Report)

Other advisories for this package

shadow 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-303: Incorrect Implementation of Authentication Algorithm) in other software:

CVE-2023-4641 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:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
CWE N/A
Public Exploit ✅ No
Source OSV
Published 2023-12-27
Updated 2026-08-20
Modified 2026-02-04
Fix URL N/A

Affected Packages

Software From version Fixed in
shadow — 1:4.8.1-2ubuntu2.2

Vulnerability Monitoring

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