CVE-2023-28841

Traffic disclosure via absent IPsec enforcement rule

Published Apr 4, 2023 · Updated Feb 13, 2025

Missing encryption in Moby 1.12.0 through 20.10.23 and 23.0.0 through 23.0.2 allows man-in-the-middle attackers to read overlay traffic. During overlay endpoint setup, dockerd skips the outgoing VNI-matching IPsec iptables rule when xt_u32 is unavailable but still attaches the container. The flaw requires an encrypted Swarm overlay on an affected Linux host without xt_u32; application traffic then crosses the network as plaintext.

CVSS severity6.8
Medium
EPSS probability0.69%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Missing encryption in Moby 1.12.0 through 20.10.23 and 23.0.0 through 23.0.2 allows man-in-the-middle attackers to read overlay traffic. During overlay endpoint setup, dockerd skips the outgoing VNI-matching IPsec iptables rule when xt_u32 is unavailable but still attaches the container. The flaw requires an encrypted Swarm overlay on an affected Linux host without xt_u32; application traffic then crosses the network as plaintext.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-28841
Published
Apr 4, 2023
Updated
Feb 13, 2025
Vendor
Moby Project
Product
Moby
Classifications
CWE-311, CWE-636, T1040
Attack vector
adjacent
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Apr 4, 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=>= 1.12.0, < 20.10.24
  2. Affected versionversion=>= 23.0.0, < 23.0.3

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectoradjacent
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

Moby Project · Mobyversion=>= 1.12.0, < 20.10.24; version=>= 23.0.0, < 23.0.3

Published CVSS scores

6.8GitHubCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/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.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

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

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-311Missing Encryption of Sensitive Data
CWE-636Not Failing Securely ('Failing Open')
T1040Network Sniffing

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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