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FedoraOperating system · Fedoraproject

CVE-2023-34968

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-07-20
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 4.16.11 / 4.17.10 or later.
See remediation →
62/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
A path disclosure vulnerability was found in Samba. As part of the Spotlight protocol, Samba discloses the server-side absolute path of shares, files, and directories in the results for search queries. This flaw allows a malicious client or an attacker with a targeted RPC request to view the information that is part of the disclosed path.

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 · high confidence

A path disclosure vulnerability exists in Samba's Spotlight protocol where search query results inadvertently disclose server-side absolute paths of shares, files, and directories. An authenticated malicious client or attacker with targeted RPC request capability can exploit this to enumerate server filesystem structure.

MitigationUpdate Samba to the patched version that addresses this vulnerability. If immediate patching is not feasible, consider restricting RPC access or disabling the Spotlight protocol until the update can be applied.

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
FedoraOperating system
Affected:= 37= 38
StorageApplication
Affected:= 3.0
Enterprise LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 8.0= 9.0
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 11.0= 12.0
SambaApplication
Affected:< 4.16.11>= 4.17.0, < 4.17.10>= 4.18.0, < 4.18.5

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
Low
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/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 Samba version
    Run 'smbstatus --version' or check the installed package version using your package manager (rpm -q samba or dpkg -l samba)
    Affected if The installed version falls in the affected ranges: < 4.16.11, >= 4.17.0 and < 4.17.10, or >= 4.18.0 and < 4.18.5
  2. Verify Spotlight protocol is enabled
    Inspect the Samba configuration file (smb.conf) for 'spotlight' or 'rpc:spotlight' directives in the [global] section or individual shares. Also check for 'mdssvc' module loading.
    Affected if The Spotlight protocol (mdssvc or rpc:spotlight) is explicitly enabled in the configuration
  3. Confirm RPC access is permitted
    Review smb.conf for 'rpc_server' settings and verify that the 'mdssvc' RPC service is exposed. Check network access controls (firewall rules, host allow/deny) for SMB/RPC ports (445, 139)
    Affected if RPC services including mdssvc are accessible to untrusted or malicious authenticated users
  4. Check for authenticated user access
    Verify which users or groups have access to Samba shares. Review 'valid users', 'read list', and 'write list' parameters in smb.conf, and check for 'guest ok = yes' settings that allow anonymous access.
    Affected if The server accepts authenticated connections from users who could send malicious RPC requests to trigger the path disclosure

You are affected if running a vulnerable Samba version with Spotlight protocol enabled and authenticated users (including potentially compromised or malicious accounts) can access the RPC services.

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 4.16.11 / 4.17.10 / 4.18.5 or later
Fixed in 4.16.114.17.104.18.5
Interim mitigation

Update Samba to the patched version that addresses this vulnerability. If immediate patching is not feasible, consider restricting RPC access or disabling the Spotlight protocol until the update can be applied.

Recommended fix High confidence

Samba 4.16.11 or later for 4.16.x branch; Samba 4.17.10 or later for 4.17.x branch; Samba 4.18.5 or later for 4.18.x branch

  1. 1. Identify the currently installed Samba version using: smbd --version or rpm -q samba
  2. 2. Determine which Samba release branch you are currently running (4.16.x, 4.17.x, or 4.18.x)
  3. 3. For Fedora systems: Run 'sudo dnf update samba' to update to the latest available package
  4. 4. For RHEL/AlmaLinux systems: Run 'sudo dnf update samba' or 'sudo yum update samba'
  5. 5. For Debian/Ubuntu systems: Run 'sudo apt update && sudo apt install samba'
  6. 6. After updating, restart the Samba services using: 'sudo systemctl restart smbd nmbd' (or 'sudo systemctl restart samba' on newer systems)
  7. 7. Verify the new Samba version matches or exceeds the fixed release for your branch
Caveat Minor - this is a bug fix release; however, always test updates in a non-production environment first as configuration changes may be needed

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

Fix this in Fedora Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
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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-2023-34968 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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