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Rocket.chatApplication

CVE-2023-23911

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-03-10
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.0.0 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
An improper access control vulnerability exists prior to v6 that could allow an attacker to break the E2E encryption of a chat room by a user changing the group key of a chat room.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · moderate confidence

This improper access control vulnerability in versions prior to v6 allows any user to change the group key of a chat room, which breaks the End-to-End (E2E) encryption for all other participants. By manipulating the group key, an attacker can intercept or decrypt messages that were intended to be secured by E2E encryption.

MitigationUpgrade to version 6 or later, which contains the fix for this improper access control vulnerability. Until upgraded, monitor for unauthorized group key modifications in chat rooms.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Rocket.chatApplication
Affected:< 6.0.0

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

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

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check installed Rocket.chat version
    Access the admin panel at /admin/info or run the command: curl -s http://localhost:3000/api/v1/info | grep version. Compare the version number against the affected range (versions prior to 6.0.0).
    Affected if The installed version is below 6.0.0
  2. Verify E2E encryption is in use
    Navigate to any chat room settings and check if End-to-End encryption is enabled for that room. In the admin panel under Rooms, inspect which rooms have E2E encryption toggled on.
    Affected if E2E encryption is enabled on any chat room in the deployment
  3. Review audit logs for group key changes
    In the admin panel, access the audit logs or room administration logs. Search for events related to 'group key', 'encryption key', or 'keyChange'. On the server, check logs under /var/log/rocketchat or the container logs for any key modification events.
    Affected if Any group key modification events are found in logs, especially from non-admin users
  4. Check for unauthorized room configuration changes
    In the admin panel under Rooms, review recent room modifications. Specifically look for changes to encryption settings or room access permissions that were not initiated by administrators.
    Affected if Room configuration or encryption settings were modified by users without admin privileges
  5. Inspect API access patterns for room endpoints
    Review API access logs for POST/PUT requests to room management endpoints (e.g., /api/v1/channels.setKey or similar endpoints that handle encryption keys). Check if these requests originated from regular users rather than system processes.
    Affected if API calls modifying room encryption keys were made by non-admin users

The environment is affected if Rocket.chat version is below 6.0.0 AND E2E encryption is enabled in any chat room, indicating the improper access control vulnerability could allow unauthorized group key modifications.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 6.0.0 or later
Fixed in 6.0.0
Interim mitigation

Upgrade to version 6 or later, which contains the fix for this improper access control vulnerability. Until upgraded, monitor for unauthorized group key modifications in chat rooms.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

6.0.0

  1. Backup your Rocket.chat database and configuration before upgrading
  2. Ensure you have a restoration plan in case of issues
  3. Upgrade Rocket.chat server to version 6.0.0 or later
  4. After upgrade, verify E2E encryption functionality is working correctly
  5. Review that users can no longer arbitrarily change group encryption keys

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Rocket.chat Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
30.0 hours of engineering $5,280
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $8,448.

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-23911 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data