CVE-2023-1786

Credential disclosure via world-readable provisioning logs

Published Apr 26, 2023 · Updated Feb 13, 2025

Information exposure in Canonical cloud-init before 23.1.2 allows local users to read sensitive cloud instance data from logs. The logging path left cloud-init.log world-readable, failed to redact user and vendor data in instance-data.json, and logged Vultr payloads. A low-privileged local account can recover hashed passwords or other provisioning secrets, enabling offline password attacks and privilege escalation.

CVSS severity5.5
Medium
EPSS probability0.26%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Information exposure in Canonical cloud-init before 23.1.2 allows local users to read sensitive cloud instance data from logs. The logging path left cloud-init.log world-readable, failed to redact user and vendor data in instance-data.json, and logged Vultr payloads. A low-privileged local account can recover hashed passwords or other provisioning secrets, enabling offline password attacks and privilege escalation.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-1786
Published
Apr 26, 2023
Updated
Feb 13, 2025
Vendor
Canonical
Product
cloud-init
Classifications
CWE-532, T1552.001
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Apr 26, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Feb 13, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=0 <23.1.2

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

Canonical · cloud-initversion=0 <23.1.2

Published CVSS scores

5.5Canonical Ltd.CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

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No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-532Insertion of Sensitive Information into Log File
T1552.001Credentials In Files

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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