How severe is CVE-2023-0217?

CVE-2023-0217 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 7.5, rated high severity. It is exploitable over network with low attack complexity, requires no privileges and no user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is none, integrity none, and availability high.

Is CVE-2023-0217 being actively exploited?

It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 2% (77th percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What products are affected by CVE-2023-0217?

CVE-2023-0217 affects Openssl. See the affected-products list for the exact vulnerable versions.

How do I fix CVE-2023-0217?

Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround. Given its high severity, prioritise patching exposed systems.

When was CVE-2023-0217 published?

CVE-2023-0217 was published on 2023-02-08 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

CVE-2023-0217

CVE-2023-0217 is a high-severity vulnerability in Openssl with a CVSS 3.x base score of 7.5. It is not currently listed as actively exploited by CISA, and its EPSS exploit-prediction score is low. The underlying weakness is classified as CWE-476.

Key facts

Severity: High (CVSS 3.x base score 7.5)
EPSS exploit prediction: 2% (77th percentile)
Actively exploited: Not listed in CISA KEV
Weakness: CWE-476
Affected product: Openssl
Published: 2023-02-08
Last modified: 2026-06-17

Description

An invalid pointer dereference on read can be triggered when an application tries to check a malformed DSA public key by the EVP_PKEY_public_check() function. This will most likely lead to an application crash. This function can be called on public keys supplied from untrusted sources which could allow an attacker to cause a denial of service attack. The TLS implementation in OpenSSL does not call this function but applications might call the function if there are additional security requirements imposed by standards such as FIPS 140-3.

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2023-0217?: An invalid pointer dereference on read can be triggered when an application tries to check a malformed DSA public key by the EVP_PKEY_public_check() function. This will most likely lead to an application crash. This function can be called on public keys supplied from untrusted sources which could allow an attacker to cause a denial of service attack. The TLS implementation in OpenSSL does not call this function but applications might call the function if there are additional security requirements imposed by standards such as FIPS 140-3.
How severe is CVE-2023-0217?: CVE-2023-0217 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 7.5, rated high severity. It is exploitable over network with low attack complexity, requires no privileges and no user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is none, integrity none, and availability high.
Is CVE-2023-0217 being actively exploited?: It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 2% (77th percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
What products are affected by CVE-2023-0217?: CVE-2023-0217 affects Openssl. See the affected-products list for the exact vulnerable versions.
How do I fix CVE-2023-0217?: Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround. Given its high severity, prioritise patching exposed systems.
When was CVE-2023-0217 published?: CVE-2023-0217 was published on 2023-02-08 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

References

Affected products (1)

cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

More vulnerabilities in Openssl

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All CVEs affecting Openssl →

Other CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference) vulnerabilities

CVE-2022-36648 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): The hardware emulation in the of_dpa_cmd_add_l2_flood of rocker device model in QEMU, as used in 7.0.0 and earlier,…
CVE-2020-14500 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): Secomea GateManager all versions prior to 9.2c, An attacker can send a negative value and overwrite arbitrary data.
CVE-2010-2495 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): The pppol2tp_xmit function in drivers/net/pppol2tp.c in the L2TP implementation in the Linux kernel before 2.6.34 does…
CVE-2026-46195 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: smb: client: validate dacloffset before building…
CVE-2026-31657 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: batman-adv: hold claim backbone gateways by…
CVE-2026-31436 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: dmaengine: idxd: fix possible wrong descriptor…

Browse all CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference) vulnerabilities →

Threat intelligence

Threat-intel indicators referencing this CVE:

103.90.227.203 (ipv4-addr)
161.97.123.14 (ipv4-addr)
14.161.12.247 (ipv4-addr)
109.236.86.20 (ipv4-addr)