CVE-2023-32315VulnerabilityPublished 26 May 2023Updated 21 Oct 2025

CVE-2023-32315: igniterealtime Openfire · Path Traversal

Affects igniterealtime OpenfireSource CVE Database V5

Exploited in the wild · KEV due 14 Sep 2023 · public exploit available (Metasploit) · 99% EPSS : upgrade to 4.7.5 or 4.6.8 now.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 06:26 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

8.6High

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

KEV deadline: 14 Sep 2023 US federal agencies must patch by this date; a sensible deadline for everyone else.
EPSS: 99.9% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 99% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 4.7.5, 4.6.8

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

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: Low
Availability: Low

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: Low: Modification of data is possible, but the attacker does not have control over the consequence of a modification, or the amount of modification is limited. The data modification does not have a direct, serious impact on the impacted component.
Availability: Low: Performance is reduced or there are interruptions in resource availability. Even if repeated exploitation of the vulnerability is possible, the attacker does not have the ability to completely deny service to legitimate users. The resources in the impacted component are either partially available all of the time, or fully available only some of the time, but overall there is no direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

t = 0 is the CVE’s publication on cve.org

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 26 May 2023
Detectable: evidence found.
nuclei template: Openfire Administration Console - Authentication Bypass
Weaponised: evidence found.
1 Metasploit module
Exploited in the wildExploited: evidence found.
Listed in CISA KEV 90 days after disclosure
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: evidence found.
1 exposed host found; no attack traffic recorded

CVE ID reserved
by GitHub_M
2023-05-0813:26Z, 18 days before disclosure
CVE published
on cve.org
2023-05-2622:33Z, t = 0
Added to CISA KEV (opens in a new tab)
exploitation confirmed
2023-08-24, 90 days after disclosure
KEV remediation due
US federal deadline
2023-09-14, 111 days after disclosure

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), CISA KEV (opens in a new tab), OffSeq Mirage (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 2026-10-26.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Upgrade org.igniterealtime/openfire to 4.7.5 or 4.6.8.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Mavenorg.igniterealtime/openfire`pkg:maven/org.igniterealtime/openfire`Other threats	Affected <4.6.8 <4.7.5	Fixed in 4.6.8 4.7.5

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

Description

CVE-2023-32315 is a high-severity path traversal vulnerability in the Openfire XMPP server's administrative console setup environment. It allows unauthenticated attackers to access restricted administrative pages by exploiting improper pathname restrictions. This affects all Openfire versions released since April 2015 up to versions before 4.6.8 and 4.7.5, with patches available in those versions. The vulnerability enables attackers to gain partial administrative access without credentials, potentially compromising confidentiality and availability. No known exploits are currently in the wild, but the ease of exploitation and broad version impact make timely patching critical. European organizations using Openfire should prioritize upgrading to patched versions or apply mitigations from the GitHub advisory.

Impact

For European organizations, this vulnerability poses a significant risk to the confidentiality and availability of XMPP-based communication services. Unauthorized access to the Openfire administrative console could allow attackers to view sensitive configuration data, user information, or manipulate server settings, potentially leading to service disruption or data leakage. Organizations relying on Openfire for internal communications, collaboration, or customer-facing messaging platforms could experience operational impacts and reputational damage if exploited. Critical sectors such as government, finance, healthcare, and telecommunications in Europe that use Openfire or similar XMPP servers are particularly vulnerable due to the sensitive nature of their communications. The ease of exploitation without authentication increases the likelihood of attacks, especially in environments where Openfire instances are exposed to the internet or insufficiently segmented networks. Although no active exploits are currently known, the vulnerability's presence since 2015 means many legacy systems remain at risk, emphasizing the need for urgent remediation to prevent potential compromise.

Mitigation

European organizations should immediately verify their Openfire server versions and upgrade to version 4.6.8, 4.7.5, or later, including the upcoming 4.8.0 release when available. If upgrading is not immediately possible, apply the mitigations detailed in the GitHub advisory GHSA-gw42-f939-fhvm, which may include restricting network access to the setup environment via firewall rules, disabling or securing the setup environment if possible, and enforcing strict access controls on the administrative console. Network segmentation should be employed to isolate Openfire servers from untrusted networks, and monitoring for unusual access patterns to the administrative console should be implemented. Additionally, organizations should audit existing Openfire deployments for exposure to the setup environment and ensure that default or weak credentials are not in use. Regular vulnerability scanning and penetration testing should be conducted to detect potential exploitation attempts. Finally, maintain awareness of updates from the Openfire project and apply patches promptly to mitigate emerging threats.

CWE-22Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal') (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #6OWASP Top 10 A01:2025: Broken Access Control (opens in a new tab)
The product uses external input to construct a pathname that is intended to identify a file or directory that is located underneath a restricted parent directory, but the product does not properly neutralize special elements within the pathname that can cause the pathname to resolve to a location that is outside of the restricted directory.
Implementation · Input Validation
Assume all input is malicious. Use an "accept known good" input validation strategy, i.e., use a list of acceptable inputs that strictly conform to specifications. Reject any input that does not strictly conform to specifications, or transform it into something that does.
Architecture and Design
For any security checks that are performed on the client side, ensure that these checks are duplicated on the server side, in order to avoid CWE-602. Attackers can bypass the client-side checks by modifying values after the checks have been performed, or by changing the client to remove the client-side checks…
Implementation · Input Validation
Inputs should be decoded and canonicalized to the application's current internal representation before being validated (CWE-180). Make sure that the application does not decode the same input twice (CWE-174).
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Authorization (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V12.3.1 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Path Traversal (opens in a new tab)
Using Slashes and URL Encoding Combined to Bypass Validation Logic (opens in a new tab)
Manipulating Web Input to File System Calls (opens in a new tab)
Using Escaped Slashes in Alternate Encoding (opens in a new tab)
Using Slashes in Alternate Encoding (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

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Exploitation evidence

Timeline

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 28 Oct 2025, 23:47 UTC

Public exploits and detection1 Metasploit module, a Nuclei detection template

WeaknessesCWE-22

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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