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HubApplication · Artifacthub

CVE-2023-45823

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-10-19
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.16.0 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
Artifact Hub is a web-based application that enables finding, installing, and publishing packages and configurations for CNCF projects. During a security audit of Artifact Hub's code base a security researcher identified a bug in which by using symbolic links in certain kinds of repositories loaded into Artifact Hub, it was possible to read internal files. Artifact Hub indexes content from a variety of sources, including git repositories. When processing git based repositories, Artifact Hub clones the repository and, depending on the artifact kind, reads some files from it. During this process, in some cases, no validation was done to check if the file was a symbolic link. This made possible to read arbitrary files in the system, potentially leaking sensitive information. This issue has been resolved in version `1.16.0`. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.

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

Artifact Hub lacks validation for symbolic links when processing git repositories, allowing attackers to craft repositories containing symlinks that point to arbitrary system files. When Artifact Hub clones and indexes these repositories, it follows the symlinks and exposes the targeted file contents, enabling unauthorized disclosure of sensitive information.

MitigationUpgrade Artifact Hub to version 1.16.0 or later. No workarounds exist; the upgrade is mandatory to remediate this vulnerability.

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
HubApplication
Affected:< 1.16.0

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. Determine installed Artifact Hub version
    Run 'artifact-hub version' or check the Docker image tag/container metadata. If using Kubernetes, inspect the deployment: 'kubectl get deployment artifact-hub -o jsonpath="{.spec.template.spec.containers[0].image}"'. If using Helm: 'helm list' and check the chart version, or inspect the running pod image.
    Affected if The version number is lower than 1.16.0 (e.g., 1.15.0, 1.14.0, etc.)
  2. Confirm git repository indexing is enabled
    Check if Artifact Hub is configured to index git repositories. Review the configuration file (artifact-hub.yml) or environment variables for 'hub.cloningEnabled', 'harbor.cloningEnabled', or similar cloning/indexing settings. In Kubernetes, check ConfigMaps or Secrets associated with the Artifact Hub deployment.
    Affected if Git repository cloning/indexing is enabled and the version is below 1.16.0
  3. Verify public repository access
    Review which repositories Artifact Hub is configured to index. Check the 'repositories' database table or the web interface for registered repositories. Determine if any are from untrusted or public sources that could contain malicious symlinks.
    Affected if The hub indexes repositories from untrusted sources and runs a version below 1.16.0

You are affected if Artifact Hub Hub is installed at a version lower than 1.16.0 and git repository indexing/cloning is enabled.

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 1.16.0 or later
Fixed in 1.16.0
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Artifact Hub to version 1.16.0 or later. No workarounds exist; the upgrade is mandatory to remediate this vulnerability.

Recommended fix High confidence

1.16.0

  1. Backup your current Artifact Hub installation and data
  2. Upgrade Artifact Hub to version 1.16.0 using your deployment method (e.g., Helm chart, docker-compose, or binary)
  3. Verify the upgrade was successful by checking the running version
  4. Confirm that symbolic link handling is now properly validated in the upgraded version

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

Fix this in Hub Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,540
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,464.

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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-2023-45823 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