CVE-2023-22735 Vulnerability Analysis & Exploit Details

CVE-2023-22735
Vulnerability Scoring

4.4
/10
Medium Risk

The vulnerability CVE-2023-22735 could compromise system integrity but typically requires user interaction to be exploited.

Attack Complexity Details

  • Attack Complexity: High
    Exploits require significant effort and special conditions.
  • Attack Vector: Network
    Vulnerability is exploitable over a network without physical access.
  • Privileges Required: Low
    Some privileges are necessary to exploit the vulnerability.
  • Scope: Changed
    Successful exploitation can impact components beyond the vulnerable component.
  • User Interaction: Required
    User interaction is necessary for successful exploitation.

CVE-2023-22735 Details

Status: Modified

Last updated: 🕢 21 Nov 2024, 07:45 UTC
Originally published on: 🕖 07 Feb 2023, 19:15 UTC

Time between publication and last update: 652 days

CVSS Release: version 3

CVSS3 Source

security-advisories@github.com

CVSS3 Type

Secondary

CVSS3 Vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N

CVE-2023-22735 Vulnerability Summary

CVE-2023-22735: Zulip is an open-source team collaboration tool. In versions of zulip prior to commit `2f6c5a8` but after commit `04cf68b` users could upload files with arbitrary `Content-Type` which would be served from the Zulip hostname with `Content-Disposition: inline` and no `Content-Security-Policy` header, allowing them to trick other users into executing arbitrary Javascript in the context of the Zulip application. Among other things, this enables session theft. Only deployments which use the S3 storage (not the local-disk storage) are affected, and only deployments which deployed commit 04cf68b45ebb5c03247a0d6453e35ffc175d55da, which has only been in `main`, not any numbered release. Users affected should upgrade from main again to deploy this fix. Switching from S3 storage to the local-disk storage would nominally mitigate this, but is likely more involved than upgrading to the latest `main` which addresses the issue.

Assessing the Risk of CVE-2023-22735

Access Complexity Graph

The exploitability of CVE-2023-22735 depends on two key factors: attack complexity (the level of effort required to execute an exploit) and privileges required (the access level an attacker needs).

Exploitability Analysis for CVE-2023-22735

This vulnerability, CVE-2023-22735, requires a high level of attack complexity and low privileges, making it difficult but not impossible to exploit. Organizations should ensure robust security configurations to mitigate risks.

Understanding AC and PR

A lower complexity and fewer privilege requirements make exploitation easier. Security teams should evaluate these aspects to determine the urgency of mitigation strategies, such as patch management and access control policies.

Attack Complexity (AC) measures the difficulty in executing an exploit. A high AC means that specific conditions must be met, making an attack more challenging, while a low AC means the vulnerability can be exploited with minimal effort.

Privileges Required (PR) determine the level of system access necessary for an attack. Vulnerabilities requiring no privileges are more accessible to attackers, whereas high privilege requirements limit exploitation to authorized users with elevated access.

CVSS Score Breakdown Chart

Above is the CVSS Sub-score Breakdown for CVE-2023-22735, illustrating how Base, Impact, and Exploitability factors combine to form the overall severity rating. A higher sub-score typically indicates a more severe or easier-to-exploit vulnerability.

CIA Impact Analysis

Below is the Impact Analysis for CVE-2023-22735, showing how Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability might be affected if the vulnerability is exploited. Higher values usually signal greater potential damage.

  • Confidentiality: Low
    CVE-2023-22735 could lead to minor leaks of non-critical information without major privacy breaches.
  • Integrity: Low
    Exploiting CVE-2023-22735 may cause minor changes to data without severely impacting its accuracy.
  • Availability: None
    CVE-2023-22735 does not impact system availability.

Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS)

The EPSS score estimates the probability that this vulnerability will be exploited in the near future.

EPSS Score: 0.118% (probability of exploit)

EPSS Percentile: 47.42% (lower percentile = lower relative risk)
This vulnerability is less risky than approximately 52.58% of others.

CVE-2023-22735 References

External References

CWE Common Weakness Enumeration

CWE-436

CAPEC Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification

  • HTTP Request Splitting CAPEC-105 An adversary abuses the flexibility and discrepancies in the parsing and interpretation of HTTP Request messages by different intermediary HTTP agents (e.g., load balancer, reverse proxy, web caching proxies, application firewalls, etc.) to split a single HTTP request into multiple unauthorized and malicious HTTP requests to a back-end HTTP agent (e.g., web server). See CanPrecede relationships for possible consequences.
  • HTTP Response Smuggling CAPEC-273 An adversary manipulates and injects malicious content in the form of secret unauthorized HTTP responses, into a single HTTP response from a vulnerable or compromised back-end HTTP agent (e.g., server). See CanPrecede relationships for possible consequences. Modification/manipulation of HTTP message headers, request-line and body parameters to disrupt and interfere in the interpretation and parsing of HTTP message lengths/boundaries for consecutive HTTP messages by HTTP agents in a HTTP chain or network path.
  • HTTP Response Splitting CAPEC-34 An adversary manipulates and injects malicious content, in the form of secret unauthorized HTTP responses, into a single HTTP response from a vulnerable or compromised back-end HTTP agent (e.g., web server) or into an already spoofed HTTP response from an adversary controlled domain/site. See CanPrecede relationships for possible consequences.

Vulnerable Configurations

  • cpe:2.3:a:zulip:zulip_server:2023-01-09:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:zulip:zulip_server:2023-01-09:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

Protect Your Infrastructure against CVE-2023-22735: Combat Critical CVE Threats

Stay updated with real-time CVE vulnerabilities and take action to secure your systems. Enhance your cybersecurity posture with the latest threat intelligence and mitigation techniques. Develop the skills necessary to defend against CVEs and secure critical infrastructures. Join the top cybersecurity professionals safeguarding today's infrastructures.

Other 5 Recently Published CVEs Vulnerabilities

  • CVE-2025-26205 – Lua 5.4.7, when the debug library is used, has a out-of-bounds read and segmentation violation in mainpositionTV in ltable.c. NOTE: this is dispute...
  • CVE-2025-26204 – Lua 5.4.7, when the debug library is used, has a out-of-bounds read and segmentation violation in equalkey in ltable.c. NOTE: this is disputed beca...
  • CVE-2025-2129 – A vulnerability was found in Mage AI 0.9.75. It has been classified as problematic. This affects an unknown part. The manipulation leads to insecur...
  • CVE-2025-2127 – A vulnerability was found in JoomlaUX JUX Real Estate 3.4.0 on Joomla. It has been classified as problematic. Affected is an unknown function of th...
  • CVE-2025-2126 – A vulnerability was found in JoomlaUX JUX Real Estate 3.4.0 on Joomla and classified as critical. This issue affects some unknown processing of the...