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NVD / CVE Program· CNA GitHub_M

CVE-2023-28623: Unauthorized user can register an account in specific configurations in Zulip

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 14/100)

  • The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
  • Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 0.52% (FIRST EPSS).
  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it. No account or password is required. No user action is required. Special conditions such as timing or configuration are required.
  • Fixed version: zulip zulip 6.2.
  • Severity is disputed: the assigning authority (CNA) scores it 6.5, NVD 3.7.

Low priority for now. Upgrade to zulip zulip 6.2 or later.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS

Zulip is an open-source team collaboration tool with unique topic-based threading. In the event that 1: `ZulipLDAPAuthBackend` and an external authentication backend (any aside of `ZulipLDAPAuthBackend` and `EmailAuthBackend`) are the only ones enabled in `AUTHENTICATION_BACKENDS` in `/etc/zulip/settings.py` and 2: The organization permissions don't require invitations to join. An attacker can create a new account in the organization with an arbitrary email address in their control that's not in the organization's LDAP directory. The impact is limited to installations which have this specific combination of authentication backends as described above in addition to having `Invitations are required for joining this organization` organization permission disabled. This issue has been addressed in version 6.2. Users are advised to upgrade. Users unable to upgrade may enable the `Invitations are required for joining this organization` organization permission to prevent this issue.

LowCVSS 3.7 · v3.1—No exploit Fix available
Published
May 19, 2023
Updated
Jun 17, 2026
EPSS
0.5% · 44th percentile

Report tools

JSON

Action score

14

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
14 / 40 · 3.7 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
0 / 30 · 0.5%

CISA SSVC decision

Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
partial

Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.

CNA vs NVD score

NVD
3.7
CNA · GitHub_M
6.5
2.8 point gap

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

The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.

Get told when this record changes

  • Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
  • No public exploit code on record
  • A fix has been released

If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.

Follow CVE-2023-28623

When you'll hear from us

  • when it enters CISA KEV
  • when exploit code appears or is weaponized
  • when the record is updated (including a fixed version)
  • when EPSS rises 20 points in a week

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Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

VendorProduct
zulipzulip

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

  • zulip zulipbefore 6.2

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (GitHub_M). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

  • zulip zulip

    • >= 2.1.0, < 6.2affected

Same product

zulip: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2021-43799RabbitMQ exposes ports with weak default secrets in Zulip Server
    41Plan
  • CVE-2026-102893Zulip: OpenID Connect authentication ignores the email_verified claim
    36Monitor
  • CVE-2022-31168Zulip Server insufficient authorization for changing bot roles
    35Monitor

Published before and after this one in the same product

  • ← EarlierCVE-2022-36048Aug 31, 2022 · IP address leak via image proxy bypass in Zulip Server
    17Monitor
  • ← EarlierCVE-2023-32677May 19, 2023 · Users who can send invitations can erroneously add users to streams during invitation in Zulip
    12Monitor
  • Later →CVE-2024-36625Nov 29, 2024 · Zulip 8.3 is vulnerable to Cross Site Scripting (XSS) via the replace_emoji_with_text function in ui_util.ts.
    21Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / packageFixed versionSource
zulip zulip6.2 · descriptionVendor (CNA)

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

No dated events beyond publication.

EPSS, last 120 days

FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

No credits in the CNA record.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

No nightly-computed relations.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
  • No account or password is required.
  • No user action is required.
  • Special conditions such as timing or configuration are required.

If successful

Confidentiality
none
Integrity
low · data or configuration can be modified
Availability
none
Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
High
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality impact
None
Integrity impact
Low
Availability impact
None

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-285 · Improper Authorization

CVSS vector

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

nvd-primary

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

Change log

  1. Fix✗ → ✓

For records you follow, these changes also arrive as notifications. →

References

Show all references (1 more)

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records