How severe is CVE-2023-38346?

CVE-2023-38346 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 8.8, rated high severity. It is exploitable over network with low attack complexity, requires low privileges and no user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is high, integrity high, and availability high.

Is CVE-2023-38346 being actively exploited?

It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 1% (66th percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What products are affected by CVE-2023-38346?

CVE-2023-38346 primarily affects Windriver Vxworks. In total, 2 product configurations (CPEs) are listed as vulnerable; see the affected-products list for the exact versions.

How do I fix CVE-2023-38346?

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-2023-38346 published?

CVE-2023-38346 was published on 2023-09-22 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

CVE-2023-38346

CVE-2023-38346 is a high-severity vulnerability in Windriver Vxworks with a CVSS 3.x base score of 8.8. 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-22.

Key facts

Severity: High (CVSS 3.x base score 8.8)
EPSS exploit prediction: 1% (66th percentile)
Actively exploited: Not listed in CISA KEV
Weakness: CWE-22
Affected product: Windriver Vxworks
Published: 2023-09-22
Last modified: 2026-06-17

Description

An issue was discovered in Wind River VxWorks 6.9 and 7. The function ``tarExtract`` implements TAR file extraction and thereby also processes files within an archive that have relative or absolute file paths. A developer using the "tarExtract" function may expect that the function will strip leading slashes from absolute paths or stop processing when encountering relative paths that are outside of the extraction path, unless otherwise forced. This could lead to unexpected and undocumented behavior, which in general could result in a directory traversal, and associated unexpected behavior.

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2023-38346?: An issue was discovered in Wind River VxWorks 6.9 and 7. The function ``tarExtract`` implements TAR file extraction and thereby also processes files within an archive that have relative or absolute file paths. A developer using the "tarExtract" function may expect that the function will strip leading slashes from absolute paths or stop processing when encountering relative paths that are outside of the extraction path, unless otherwise forced. This could lead to unexpected and undocumented behavior, which in general could result in a directory traversal, and associated unexpected behavior.
How severe is CVE-2023-38346?: CVE-2023-38346 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 8.8, rated high severity. It is exploitable over network with low attack complexity, requires low privileges and no user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is high, integrity high, and availability high.
Is CVE-2023-38346 being actively exploited?: It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 1% (66th percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
What products are affected by CVE-2023-38346?: CVE-2023-38346 primarily affects Windriver Vxworks. In total, 2 product configurations (CPEs) are listed as vulnerable; see the affected-products list for the exact versions.
How do I fix CVE-2023-38346?: 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-2023-38346 published?: CVE-2023-38346 was published on 2023-09-22 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

References

Affected products (2)

cpe:2.3:o:windriver:vxworks:6.9:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:windriver:vxworks:7.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:*

More vulnerabilities in Windriver Vxworks

CVE-2013-0714 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): IPSSH (aka the SSH server) in Wind River VxWorks 6.5 through 6.9 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or…
CVE-2020-35198 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): An issue was discovered in Wind River VxWorks 7. The memory allocator has a possible integer overflow in calculating a…
CVE-2021-29999 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): An issue was discovered in Wind River VxWorks through 6.8. There is a possible stack overflow in dhcp server.
CVE-2021-29998 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): An issue was discovered in Wind River VxWorks before 6.5. There is a possible heap overflow in dhcp client.
CVE-2016-20009 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): A DNS client stack-based buffer overflow in ipdnsc_decode_name() affects Wind River VxWorks 6.5 through 7. NOTE: This…
CVE-2019-12262 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): Wind River VxWorks 6.6, 6.7, 6.8, 6.9 and 7 has Incorrect Access Control in the RARP client component. IPNET security…

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