CVE-2023-3961
A path traversal vulnerability was identified in Samba when processing client pipe names connecting to Unix domain sockets within a private directory. Samba typically uses this mechanism to connect SMB clients to remote procedure call (RPC) services like SAMR LSA or SPOOLSS, which Samba initiates on demand. However, due to inadequate sanitization of incoming client pipe names, allowing a client to send a pipe name containing Unix directory traversal characters (../). This could result in SMB clients connecting as root to Unix domain sockets outside the private directory. If an attacker or client managed to send a pipe name resolving to an external service using an existing Unix domain socket, it could potentially lead to unauthorized access to the service and consequential adverse events, including compromise or service crashes.
Key facts
- CVSS score
- 9.1 (v3.1)
- Severity
- CRITICAL
- CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H- Weakness (CWE)
- CWE-22
- EPSS score
- 2.7% (86th percentile)
- In CISA KEV
- No
- In EU EUVD
- Yes (EUVD-2023-44586)
- Published
- November 3, 2023
- NVD last modified
- June 17, 2026
- Status
- Modified
EU Vulnerability Database (EUVD)
This vulnerability is also tracked by ENISA as EUVD-2023-44586 in the EU Vulnerability Database. Last updated in EUVD on November 20, 2025.
View on the EU Vulnerability DatabaseAffected products
- fedoraproject / fedora
- redhat / enterprise linux
- redhat / enterprise linux eus
- redhat / storage
- samba / samba
Certified products that may be affected
24 FIPS 140 or Common Criteria certified products, from automated matching by sec-certs.org.
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 NSS Cryptographic Module - Red Hat, Inc. - FIPS 140 5513 - active
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Kernel Cryptographic API - Red Hat, LLC - FIPS 140 5461 - active
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Kernel Cryptographic API - Red Hat, Inc. - FIPS 140 5089 - active
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.0 EUS - Red Hat, Inc. - Common Criteria CCEVS-VR-VID-11379-2024 - archived
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 OpenSSL Cryptographic Module - Red Hat®, Inc. - FIPS 140 4642 - historical
See all 24 in the Security Certifications Explorer.
References
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2023:6209(Third Party Advisory)
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2023:6744(Third Party Advisory)
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2023:7371
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2023:7408
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2023:7464
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2023:7467
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-3961(Third Party Advisory)
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2241881(Issue Tracking)
- https://bugzilla.samba.org/show_bug.cgi?id=15422(Exploit, Issue Tracking)
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/ZUMVALLFFDFC53JZMUWA6HPD7HUGAP5I/
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20231124-0002/
- https://www.samba.org/samba/security/CVE-2023-3961.html(Vendor Advisory)
Last updated September 17, 2026 · Source: NVD, CISA KEV, FIRST.org EPSS
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