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Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 14 Sep 2023. Known ransomware use
WinrarApplication · Rarlab

CVE-2023-38831

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-08-23
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.23 or later.
See remediation →
97/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild Ransomware High EPSS Public exploit No privileges

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
RARLAB WinRAR before 6.23 allows attackers to execute arbitrary code when a user attempts to view a benign file within a ZIP archive. The issue occurs because a ZIP archive may include a benign file (such as an ordinary .JPG file) and also a folder that has the same name as the benign file, and the contents of the folder (which may include executable content) are processed during an attempt to access only the benign file. This was exploited in the wild in April through October 2023.

In the news

Third-party coverage
Trending covered by 1 outlet this week · latest 12mo ago

Surfaced from public web coverage — external links open in a new tab.

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

WinRAR before 6.23 has a vulnerability where specially crafted ZIP archives can contain both a benign file (e.g., .JPG) and a folder with the same name. When a user attempts to view the benign file, the archive handler processes the folder contents instead, allowing execution of arbitrary code.

MitigationUpgrade WinRAR to version 6.23 or later. Avoid opening untrusted ZIP archives from unknown sources.

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
WinrarApplication
Affected:< 6.23

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

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

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. Verify WinRAR installation
    Look for WinRAR executable (winrar.exe) in typical locations: C:\Program Files\WinRAR\, C:\Program Files (x86)\WinRAR\, or search for it using the Start menu search.
    Affected if WinRAR is installed on the system
  2. Determine installed WinRAR version
    Open WinRAR, click Help > About, or run 'winrar.exe' with the 'ver' command from command prompt to display the version number.
    Affected if Unable to determine version or version displays below 6.23
  3. Compare version against affected range
    Compare the discovered version to the affected range: versions prior to 6.23 (e.g., 6.22, 6.20, 6.11, 5.x series) are vulnerable.
    Affected if Installed version is less than 6.23 (for example, 6.22, 6.11, or any 5.x release)
  4. Confirm vulnerability context
    The vulnerability triggers when opening ZIP archives from untrusted sources that contain a file and folder with identical names. Check if users in your environment routinely open ZIP archives from external or untrusted sources.
    Affected if Users open ZIP archives from untrusted sources using a vulnerable WinRAR version

A system is affected if WinRAR version 6.22 or earlier is installed and users open ZIP archives from untrusted sources.

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 6.23 or later
Fixed in 6.23
Interim mitigation

Upgrade WinRAR to version 6.23 or later. Avoid opening untrusted ZIP archives from unknown sources.

Recommended fix High confidence

WinRAR 6.23 or later

  1. 1. Download WinRAR version 6.23 or later from the official RARLAB website (https://www.rarlab.com/)
  2. 2. Uninstall the current vulnerable version of WinRAR from your system
  3. 3. Install the newly downloaded WinRAR 6.23 or later version
  4. 4. Verify the installed version by opening WinRAR and checking Help > About WinRAR to confirm version 6.23 or higher is installed

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

Fix this in Winrar Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,090
Get it fixed fast

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,744.

Scan for this in your stack

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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-2023-38831 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