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Vulnerability details: VCID-f6kk-8srm-2ff5
Vulnerability ID VCID-f6kk-8srm-2ff5
Aliases CVE-2023-29383
Summary In Shadow 4.13, it is possible to inject control characters into fields provided to the SUID program chfn (change finger). Although it is not possible to exploit this directly (e.g., adding a new user fails because \n is in the block list), it is possible to misrepresent the /etc/passwd file when viewed. Use of \r manipulations and Unicode characters to work around blocking of the : character make it possible to give the impression that a new user has been added. In other words, an adversary may be able to convince a system administrator to take the system offline (an indirect, social-engineered denial of service) by demonstrating that "cat /etc/passwd" shows a rogue user account.
Status Published
Exploitability 0.5
Weighted Severity 5.0
Risk 2.5
Affected and Fixed Packages Package Details
Weaknesses (2)
CWE-20 Improper Input Validation
CWE-74 Improper Neutralization of Special Elements in Output Used by a Downstream Component ('Injection')
System Score Found at
cvssv3 5.5 https://access.redhat.com/hydra/rest/securitydata/cve/CVE-2023-29383.json
epss 0.00033 https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2023-29383
epss 0.00033 https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2023-29383
epss 0.00033 https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2023-29383
epss 0.00033 https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2023-29383
epss 0.00033 https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2023-29383
epss 0.00033 https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2023-29383
epss 0.00033 https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2023-29383
epss 0.00033 https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2023-29383
epss 0.00033 https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2023-29383
epss 0.00033 https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2023-29383
epss 0.00033 https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2023-29383
epss 0.00033 https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2023-29383
epss 0.00033 https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2023-29383
epss 0.00033 https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2023-29383
epss 0.00033 https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2023-29383
epss 0.00033 https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2023-29383
epss 0.00033 https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2023-29383
epss 0.00033 https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2023-29383
epss 0.00033 https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2023-29383
epss 0.00033 https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2023-29383
epss 0.00033 https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2023-29383
epss 0.00033 https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2023-29383
epss 0.00033 https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2023-29383
epss 0.00033 https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2023-29383
epss 0.00033 https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2023-29383
epss 0.00033 https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2023-29383
epss 0.00033 https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2023-29383
cvssv3.1 5.5 https://ftp.suse.com/pub/projects/security/yaml/suse-cvss-scores.yaml
ssvc Track https://github.com/shadow-maint/shadow/commit/e5905c4b84d4fb90aefcd96ee618411ebfac663d
ssvc Track https://github.com/shadow-maint/shadow/pull/687
cvssv3.1 3.3 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-29383
ssvc Track https://www.trustwave.com/en-us/resources/blogs/spiderlabs-blog/cve-2023-29383-abusing-linux-chfn-to-misrepresent-etc-passwd/
ssvc Track https://www.trustwave.com/en-us/resources/security-resources/security-advisories/?fid=31797
Reference id Reference type URL
https://access.redhat.com/hydra/rest/securitydata/cve/CVE-2023-29383.json
https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2023-29383
https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2023-29383
https://ftp.suse.com/pub/projects/security/yaml/suse-cvss-scores.yaml
1034482 https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=1034482
2187184 https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2187184
687 https://github.com/shadow-maint/shadow/pull/687
cpe:2.3:a:shadow_project:shadow:4.13:*:*:*:*:*:*:* https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/search/results?adv_search=true&isCpeNameSearch=true&query=cpe:2.3:a:shadow_project:shadow:4.13:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
CVE-2023-29383 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-29383
cve-2023-29383-abusing-linux-chfn-to-misrepresent-etc-passwd https://www.trustwave.com/en-us/resources/blogs/spiderlabs-blog/cve-2023-29383-abusing-linux-chfn-to-misrepresent-etc-passwd/
e5905c4b84d4fb90aefcd96ee618411ebfac663d https://github.com/shadow-maint/shadow/commit/e5905c4b84d4fb90aefcd96ee618411ebfac663d
?fid=31797 https://www.trustwave.com/en-us/resources/security-resources/security-advisories/?fid=31797
No exploits are available.
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Found at https://access.redhat.com/hydra/rest/securitydata/cve/CVE-2023-29383.json
Attack Vector (AV) Attack Complexity (AC) Privileges Required (PR) User Interaction (UI) Scope (S) Confidentiality Impact (C) Integrity Impact (I) Availability Impact (A)

network

adjacent_network

local

physical

low

high

none

low

high

none

required

unchanged

changed

high

low

none

high

low

none

high

low

none
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Found at https://ftp.suse.com/pub/projects/security/yaml/suse-cvss-scores.yaml
Attack Vector (AV) Attack Complexity (AC) Privileges Required (PR) User Interaction (UI) Scope (S) Confidentiality Impact (C) Integrity Impact (I) Availability Impact (A)

network

adjacent_network

local

physical

low

high

none

low

high

none

required

unchanged

changed

high

low

none

high

low

none

high

low

none
Vector: SSVCv2/E:P/A:N/T:P/P:M/B:A/M:M/D:T/2025-02-06T21:21:27Z/ Found at https://github.com/shadow-maint/shadow/commit/e5905c4b84d4fb90aefcd96ee618411ebfac663d
Vector: SSVCv2/E:P/A:N/T:P/P:M/B:A/M:M/D:T/2025-02-06T21:21:27Z/ Found at https://github.com/shadow-maint/shadow/pull/687
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N Found at https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-29383
Attack Vector (AV) Attack Complexity (AC) Privileges Required (PR) User Interaction (UI) Scope (S) Confidentiality Impact (C) Integrity Impact (I) Availability Impact (A)

network

adjacent_network

local

physical

low

high

none

low

high

none

required

unchanged

changed

high

low

none

high

low

none

high

low

none
Vector: SSVCv2/E:P/A:N/T:P/P:M/B:A/M:M/D:T/2025-02-06T21:21:27Z/ Found at https://www.trustwave.com/en-us/resources/blogs/spiderlabs-blog/cve-2023-29383-abusing-linux-chfn-to-misrepresent-etc-passwd/
Vector: SSVCv2/E:P/A:N/T:P/P:M/B:A/M:M/D:T/2025-02-06T21:21:27Z/ Found at https://www.trustwave.com/en-us/resources/security-resources/security-advisories/?fid=31797
Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS)
Percentile 0.07663
EPSS Score 0.00033
Published At July 30, 2025, 12:55 p.m.
Date Actor Action Source VulnerableCode Version
2025-07-31T08:34:36.731955+00:00 Alpine Linux Importer Import https://secdb.alpinelinux.org/v3.20/community.json 37.0.0