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CVE-2023-25690

Exploitation: poc CVSS 9.8 CRITICAL

CVSS base score: 9.8 (Critical) CISA · v3.1

Score assigned by CISA's Vulnrichment program; the vendor's CVE record did not include one. Vulnrichment source record →

Vendor: Apache Software Foundation   Product: Apache HTTP Server

Description

Some mod_proxy configurations on Apache HTTP Server versions 2.4.0 through 2.4.55 allow a HTTP Request Smuggling attack. Configurations are affected when mod_proxy is enabled along with some form of RewriteRule or ProxyPassMatch in which a non-specific pattern matches some portion of the user-supplied request-target (URL) data and is then re-inserted into the proxied request-target using variable substitution. For example, something like: RewriteEngine on RewriteRule "^/here/(.*)" "http://example.com:8080/elsewhere?$1"; [P] ProxyPassReverse /here/ http://example.com:8080/ Request splitting/smuggling could result in bypass of access controls in the proxy server, proxying unintended URLs to existing origin servers, and cache poisoning. Users are recommended to update to at least version 2.4.56 of Apache HTTP Server.

Research & News Coverage

No mentions found in monitored research blogs or news feeds.

Referenced in Advisories

DateAdvisoryIssuer
2026-01-27 ICSA-26-027-02: Festo Didactic SE MES PC CISA
2025-05-13 ICSA-25-133-01: Hitachi Energy Service Suite CISA
2025-04-15 ICSA-25-105-08: ABB M2M Gateway CISA
2024-09-18 People's Republic of China-Linked Actors Compromise Routers and IoT Devices for Botnet Operations FBI
2024-07-25 North Korea Cyber Group Conducts Global Espionage Campaign to Advance Regime’s Military and Nuclear Programs NSA
2024-07-25 North Korea Cyber Group Conducts Global Espionage Campaign to Advance Regime's Military and Nuclear Programs NSA
2024-02-15 ICSA-24-046-15: Siemens SINEC NMS CISA
2024-02-15 ICSA-24-046-11: Siemens SCALANCE XCM-/XRM-300 CISA

Lifecycle Timeline

Each milestone comes from a different source, so gaps between them are gaps in what those sources publish, not evidence that nothing happened. EPSS history for this CVE holds 241 points from 2023-03-11, tracked daily from 2026-09-09; earlier points are weekly, which dates a spike to within a week. Peak probability 90.0% on 2025-03-22.

Published Applicability

Red Hat CSAF/VEX 1 affected · 693 fixed · 103 not affected
OSV.dev (incl. GHSA) 3 affected · 1 fixed · 0 not affected
CVE List v5 (CNA container) 1 affected · 0 fixed · 0 not affected

Check whether a specific version is affected →

What each source publishes about which product versions carry this vulnerability, kept as written rather than merged. Absence here means no source has published applicability data, not that nothing is affected.

Detection & Exploitation

Exploit / Pen Test
Host / SIEM
none published

Coverage across public collections only: Nuclei and OpenVAS NVT (scan); Snort and Suricata ET Open (network); Sigma and YARA (host/SIEM); Metasploit, Exploit-DB, public GitHub repositories and NVD exploit references (exploit). Absence here means nothing public was found, not that detection is impossible.
GitHub PoC repositories are collected automatically by PoC-in-GitHub (CC0) and filtered to repositories that are still online, contain code, and are starred or at least two weeks old. They are still not vetted: some are fakes and some are malware. Treat them as evidence that code was published, not as code to run.
NVD exploit references are links NVD's analysts tag as exploits; they confirm an exploit was referenced but carry no date. This product uses data from the NVD but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.
OpenVAS coverage derives from the Greenbone Community Feed, made available under the Open Database License (ODbL) v1.0; its individual Vulnerability Tests are licensed GNU GPL v2.

First seenToolEvidenceEarliest reference
2023-05-22 GitHub PoC Unvetted — public repository dhmosfunk/CVE-2023-25690-POC +5 more

Metasploit is dated by the first commit of the module file, Exploit-DB by its publication date, and GitHub repositories by their creation date. GitHub PoC repositories are filtered (still online, contain code, starred or at least two weeks old) but not vetted: some are fakes and some are malware, so they show that code was published, not that it works or is safe to run. Evidence tiers are explained on the About page.

Distribution Status

Debian · apache2 bookworm 2.4.56-1 trixie 2.4.56-1 forky 2.4.56-1 sid 2.4.56-1 scope: local

Where the distribution has shipped a fix, and in which version. Green means the release has resolved it, amber that it is still open. Data from the Debian Security Tracker, used under Debian's MIT / GPLv2+ terms. Debian is upstream of several other distributions, so a fix here often precedes theirs.

CISA Assessment (Vulnrichment / SSVC)

poc
yes
total
9.8 CRITICAL
—
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CWE-444 — Inconsistent Interpretation of HTTP Requests ('HTTP Request Smuggling')
2025-06-03

Federal Remediation Window (BOD 26-04)

No
yes
total control
If the asset isRemediate withinTable 1 row
Publicly exposed 3 days 5 of 16
Not publicly exposed 60 days 13 of 16

BOD 26-04 replaced the single KEV deadline of BOD 22-01 with four inputs: whether the asset is publicly exposed, KEV status, whether exploitation is automatable, and technical impact. Exposure belongs to each agency's asset, not to the CVE, so both outcomes are shown. Automatable and technical impact come from the CISA assessment above. Days are calendar days; for KEV entries the clock starts on the date it was added, and otherwise when the agency identifies the vulnerability on an asset. Agencies make the final exposure call asset by asset, and may set shorter timelines.

External References