dbcve.org
Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF)Weakness · CWE-918

CVE-2023-40148

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-04-10
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
74/100
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
Server-side request forgery (SSRF) in PingFederate allows unauthenticated http requests to attack network resources and consume server-side resources via forged HTTP POST requests.

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

PingFederate contains an SSRF vulnerability where unauthenticated attackers can send forged HTTP POST requests causing the server to make arbitrary HTTP requests to internal or external network resources. This can be exploited to access sensitive internal services, port scan internal networks, or consume server resources.

MitigationRestrict outbound requests via allowlisting trusted endpoints, implement strict input validation on request parameters, and enforce proper authentication/authorization checks before the server initiates any outbound HTTP request.

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

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
Low

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

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. Identify PingFederate installation
    Check for PingFederate by reviewing running services, installed applications, or checking common installation paths such as /opt/pingfederate or C:\Program Files\PingFederate. Look for the pingfederate process or service.
    Affected if PingFederate software is installed on the system
  2. Determine installed PingFederate version
    Locate the version file in the PingFederate installation directory, typically found in /opt/pingfederate/version.txt or check the admin console for the version information under System > Configuration > Version Information.
    Affected if The installed version matches the affected versions listed in Ping Identity's security advisory for CVE-2023-40148
  3. Check for exposed administrative endpoints
    Review network exposure of PingFederate administrative endpoints (default ports 9999, 443, 8080). Determine if the /pf/admin/ API or other administrative endpoints are accessible from untrusted networks.
    Affected if Administrative endpoints are accessible from untrusted or external networks without proper network segmentation
  4. Verify outbound HTTP request capability
    Review PingFederate configuration files (such as pingfederate-config.xml or proxy-settings.xml) to determine if outbound HTTP connections are permitted and whether proxy or allowlist controls are configured.
    Affected if The server is configured to allow arbitrary outbound HTTP requests without strict allowlisting or proxy restrictions
  5. Inspect request handling configuration
    Examine the PingFederate runtime configuration for handling of incoming requests, particularly looking for settings related to request parameter validation and HTTP client initialization in the server.conf or similar configuration files.
    Affected if Request parameters can be controlled to trigger arbitrary outbound HTTP requests without proper validation

A user is affected if PingFederate is running an unpatched version (per CVE-2023-40148) and the system can process unauthenticated HTTP requests that trigger outbound connections to arbitrary URLs.

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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Restrict outbound requests via allowlisting trusted endpoints, implement strict input validation on request parameters, and enforce proper authentication/authorization checks before the server initiates any outbound HTTP request.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,176.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-40148 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2023-40148 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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