CVE-2023-47038: Heap-based Buffer Overflow
Source CVE Database V5
Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.0 High.
Data as of 25 Oct 2026, 19:02 UTC
- EPSS
- 0.8% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 56% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HExploitation evidence
Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 18 Dec 2023
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 2026-10-25.
What to do
AI-suggested
Organizations should immediately inventory their Perl installations to identify affected versions (5.30.0 through 5.38.0). Until patches are available, restrict local access to trusted users and limit execution of untrusted regular expressions or scripts. Employ application whitelisting and sandboxing to contain potential exploitation. Monitor system logs for unusual behavior indicative of exploitation attempts. Regularly update Perl to the latest stable version once patches addressing CVE-2023-47038 are released. Additionally, implement strict input validation and sanitization for any user-supplied data processed by Perl scripts. Consider using security tools that can detect heap-based buffer overflow attempts. Finally, maintain up-to-date backups and incident response plans to mitigate potential damage from exploitation.
Description
A vulnerability was found in perl 5.30.0 through 5.38.0. This issue occurs when a crafted regular expression is compiled by perl, which can allow an attacker controlled byte buffer overflow in a heap allocated buffer.
References
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:2228 (opens in a new tab)
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:3128 (opens in a new tab)
- access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-47038 (opens in a new tab)
- bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=1056746 (opens in a new tab)
- bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2249523 (opens in a new tab)
- github.com/aquasecurity/trivy/discussions/8400 (opens in a new tab)
- suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-47100.html (opens in a new tab)
- ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-47100 (opens in a new tab)
- github.com/Perl/perl5/commit/ff1f9f59360afeebd6f75ca1502f5c3ebf077da3 (opens in a new tab)
- github.com/Perl/perl5/commit/7047915eef37fccd93e7cd985c29fe6be54650b6 (opens in a new tab)
- github.com/Perl/perl5/commit/12c313ce49b36160a7ca2e9b07ad5bd92ee4a010 (opens in a new tab)
- lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/GNEEWAACXQCEEAKSG7XX2D5YDRWLCIZJ/ (opens in a new tab)
- perldoc.perl.org/perl5382delta (opens in a new tab)
- lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/UMDZZ4SCEW6FRWZDMXGAKZ35THTAWFG6/ (opens in a new tab)