NVD / CVE Program· CNA GitHub_M

CVE-2023-49294: Asterisk Path Traversal vulnerability

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Plan (action score 44/100)

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: 45.2% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 98.7% of all records.
Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it. No account or password is required. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
Fixed version: asterisk (Alpine:v3.16) 18.20.2-r0; asterisk (Alpine:v3.19) 20.5.1-r0; asterisk (Debian:10) 1:16.28.0~dfsg-0+deb10u4.
Severity is disputed: the assigning authority (CNA) scores it 4.9, NVD 7.5.

Add it to your regular patch cycle. Upgrade to asterisk (Alpine:v3.16) 18.20.2-r0; asterisk (Alpine:v3.19) 20.5.1-r0; asterisk (Debian:10) 1:16.28.0~dfsg-0+deb10u4 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

Asterisk is an open source private branch exchange and telephony toolkit. In Asterisk prior to versions 18.20.1, 20.5.1, and 21.0.1, as well as certified-asterisk prior to 18.9-cert6, it is possible to read any arbitrary file even when the `live_dangerously` is not enabled. This allows arbitrary files to be read. Asterisk versions 18.20.1, 20.5.1, and 21.0.1, as well as certified-asterisk prior to 18.9-cert6, contain a fix for this issue.

HighCVSS 7.5 · v3.1—No exploit Fix available

Published: Dec 14, 2023
Updated: Jun 17, 2026
EPSS: 45.2% · 98th percentile
CWE: CWE-22

Report tools

JSON

Action score

Plan

Add it to your regular patch cycle.

CVSS: 30 / 40 · 7.5 / 10
CISA KEV: 0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS: 14 / 30 · 45.2%

CNA vs NVD score

NVD: 7.5
CNA · GitHub_M: 4.9; 2.6 point gap

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

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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.

Vendor	Product	CPE
digium	asterisk	cpe:2.3:a:digium:asterisk
sangoma	certified asterisk	cpe:2.3:a:sangoma:certified_asterisk

Affected versions

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

digium asteriskbefore 18.20.1
digium asterisk19.0.0 and later · before 20.5.1
digium asterisk21.0.0
sangoma certified asterisk13.13.0
sangoma certified asterisk16.8.0
sangoma certified asterisk18.9

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.

asterisk asterisk
- < 18.20.1, >= 19.0.0, < 20.5.1, = 21.0.0, < 18.9-cert6affected

Package-level exposure

OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.

Ecosystem	Package	Affected range	Fix
Alpine:v3.16	asterisk	from 19.0.0 · before 18.20.2-r0	18.20.2-r0
Alpine:v3.19	asterisk	from 19.0.0 · before 20.5.1-r0	20.5.1-r0
Debian:10	asterisk	before 1:16.28.0~dfsg-0+deb10u4	1:16.28.0~dfsg-0+deb10u4
Debian:11	asterisk	before 1:16.28.0~dfsg-0+deb11u4	1:16.28.0~dfsg-0+deb11u4
Debian:14	asterisk	before 1:20.5.1~dfsg+~cs6.13.40431414-1	1:20.5.1~dfsg+~cs6.13.40431414-1

Same product

digium: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

CVE-2006-5444Integer overflow in the get_input function in the Skinny channel driver (chan_skinny.c) in Asterisk 1.0.x before 1.0.12 and 1.2.x before 1.2
56Plan
CVE-2017-17850An issue was discovered in Asterisk 13.18.4 and older, 14.7.4 and older, 15.1.4 and older, and 13.18-cert1 and older.
53Plan
CVE-2019-18610An issue was discovered in manager.c in Sangoma Asterisk through 13.x, 16.x, 17.x and Certified Asterisk 13.21 through 13.21-cert4.
50Plan

Published before and after this one in the same product

← EarlierCVE-2022-26651Apr 15, 2022 · An issue was discovered in Asterisk through 19.x and Certified Asterisk through 16.8-cert13.
41Plan
← EarlierCVE-2023-37457Dec 14, 2023 · Asterisk's PJSIP_HEADER dialplan function can overwrite memory/cause crash when using 'update'
32Monitor
Later →CVE-2023-49786Dec 14, 2023 · Asterisk susceptible to Denial of Service via DTLS Hello packets during call initiation
25Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

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

Product / package	Fixed version	Source
alpine:asterisk	18.20.2-r0 · Alpine:v3.16	Package registry (OSV)
debian:asterisk	1:20.5.1~dfsg+~cs6.13.40431414-1 · Debian:14	Package registry (OSV)

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.

asterisk/asteriskcommit 424be34

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.
No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality: high · data can be read
Integrity: none
Availability: none

Attack vector: Network
Attack complexity: Low
Privileges required: None
User interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality impact: High
Integrity impact: None
Availability impact: None

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-22 · Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')

CVSS vector

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

nvd-primary

Root cause

A user-supplied file name is joined with the allowed directory, but the result is never checked to confirm it is still inside that directory.

The bug in code

The whole CWE-22 class

A representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.

Vulnerable

1const file = path.join(ROOT, req.query.name);
2res.sendFile(file);

Fixed

1const file = path.resolve(ROOT, req.query.name);
2if (!file.startsWith(ROOT + path.sep)) {
3  return res.sendStatus(400);
4}
5res.sendFile(file);

Attack context

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

Attack patterns (CAPEC)

ATT&CK techniques

—

Change log

Fix✗ → ✓Sep 28, 2026, 10:49 PM UTC

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

References

github.com/asterisk/asterisk/blob/master/main/manager.c#L3757

Show all references (3 more)

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

All records