CVE-2023-4641
Shadow-utils: possible password leak during passwd(1) change
- Published
- Updated
- Reserved
- Assigned by
- redhat
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.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| redhatCNA (assigner) | 3.1 | Medium4.7 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N |
| NVDNVD · Modified | 3.1 | Medium5.5 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 0.26% · top 83% of all CVEs (7 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: none · Automatable: no · Technical impact: total
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Medium 4.7.
Weakness
Affected products
shadow-utils
- unaffected 4.14.0-rc1 – < *
Red Hat · Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
- unaffected 2:4.6-19.el8 – < *
Red Hat · Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6 Extended Update Support
- unaffected 2:4.6-17.el8_6 – < *
Red Hat · Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.8 Extended Update Support
- unaffected 2:4.6-17.el8_8.2 – < *
Red Hat · Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
- unaffected 2:4.9-8.el9 – < *
Red Hat · Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
All versions: unknown
Red Hat · Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
All versions: unknown
References (7)
- RHSA-2023:6632 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHATx_transferred
- RHSA-2023:7112 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHATx_transferred
- RHSA-2024:0417 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHATx_transferred
- RHSA-2024:2577 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHATx_transferred
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-4641 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_REDHATx_transferred
- RHBZ#2215945 (opens in a new tab)issue-trackingx_refsource_REDHATx_transferred
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/04/msg00026.html (opens in a new tab)
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://trackcve.app/cve/CVE-2023-4641)Record last updated .