VulnerabilityPublished 9 Feb 2024Updated 3 Jun 2025

CVE-2023-45718: HCL Sametime · CWE-613

Affects HCL SametimeSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 3.9 Low.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 14:05 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

3.9Low

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

EPSS: 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 28% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

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

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

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

Attack Vector: Physical: The attack requires the attacker to physically touch or manipulate the vulnerable component. Physical interaction may be brief or persistent.
Attack Complexity: High: A successful attack depends on conditions beyond the attacker's control. That is, a successful attack cannot be accomplished at will, but requires the attacker to invest in some measurable amount of effort in preparation or execution against the vulnerable component before a successful attack can be expected. For example, a successful attack may require an attacker to: gather knowledge about the environment in which the vulnerable target/component exists; prepare the target environment to improve exploit reliability; or inject themselves into the logical network path between the target and the resource requested by the victim in order to read and/or modify network communications (e.g., a man in the middle attack).
Privileges Required: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
User Interaction: Required: Successful exploitation of this vulnerability requires a user to take some action before the vulnerability can be exploited.
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: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 9 Feb 2024
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

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

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 or the CVSS exploit maturity 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

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
HCL Software HCL Sametime	Affected 11.5 – 12.0.1 4 affected builds	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

Implement strict endpoint security controls to prevent unauthorized physical access to devices running Sametime Web clients, including screen locking, device encryption, and user authentication policies.
Educate users to log out explicitly from Sametime sessions rather than relying on closing browser windows or tabs, reducing the chance of persistent cookie reuse.
Where possible, configure browser settings or use browser extensions to clear cookies and site data upon session termination or browser closure.
Monitor and audit session activities and access logs for unusual patterns that may indicate session hijacking attempts.
Deploy network-level controls such as VPNs and zero-trust architectures to limit access to Sametime services only to trusted devices and users.
Engage with HCL Software support channels to obtain official patches or updates addressing this vulnerability as they become available.
Consider multi-factor authentication (MFA) for Sametime access to add an additional layer of security, mitigating risks from stolen session cookies.
Review and update session timeout and cookie expiration policies within Sametime configuration if configurable, to enforce shorter session lifetimes and reduce exposure.

Description

Sametime is impacted by a failure to invalidate sessions. The application is setting sensitive cookie values in a persistent manner in Sametime Web clients. When this happens, cookie values can remain valid even after a user has closed out their session.

Impact

For European organizations, the vulnerability poses a moderate confidentiality risk, especially in sectors where sensitive communications occur over HCL Sametime, such as finance, government, healthcare, and critical infrastructure. Persistent session cookies could allow unauthorized individuals with physical or local access to a user's device to access confidential chat histories, meeting details, or other sensitive collaboration data. This risk is heightened in environments with shared workstations or insufficient endpoint security controls. While the vulnerability does not affect system integrity or availability, the exposure of confidential information could lead to data breaches, regulatory non-compliance (e.g., GDPR), reputational damage, and potential financial penalties. The requirement for physical access and user interaction limits remote exploitation, but insider threats or theft/loss of devices could still trigger incidents. Organizations relying heavily on HCL Sametime for internal or external communications should evaluate their session management policies and endpoint security measures to mitigate this risk.

CWE-613Insufficient Session Expiration (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessOWASP Top 10 A07:2025: Authentication Failures (opens in a new tab)
According to WASC, "Insufficient Session Expiration is when a web site permits an attacker to reuse old session credentials or session IDs for authorization."
Implementation
Set sessions/credentials expiration date.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
OWASP Authentication (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V2.8.1 (opens in a new tab)
V2.8.6 (opens in a new tab)
V3.6.1 (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

support.hcltechsw.com/csm?id=kb_article&sysparm_article=KB0109082 (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 4 Jul 2025, 13:26 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-613

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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