Application crash via invalid certificate public key
Published Nov 28, 2023 · Updated Nov 3, 2025
Denial of service in Node.js 16.x, 18.x, and 20.x allows remote attackers to terminate applications via invalid X.509 certificates. The crypto.X509Certificate() API accepts a certificate with invalid public-key information, but accessing that information from user code terminates the process instead of returning a recoverable error. Exposure requires an application to pass attacker-controlled certificate data to the API and inspect its public key; the resulting crash discards the process context and interrupts service.
Summary
What happened
Denial of service in Node.js 16.x, 18.x, and 20.x allows remote attackers to terminate applications via invalid X.509 certificates. The crypto.X509Certificate() API accepts a certificate with invalid public-key information, but accessing that information from user code terminates the process instead of returning a recoverable error. Exposure requires an application to pass attacker-controlled certificate data to the API and inspect its public key; the resulting crash discards the process context and interrupts service.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2023-30588
- Published
- Nov 28, 2023
- Updated
- Nov 3, 2025
- Vendor
- Node.js
- Product
- Node.js
- Classifications
- T1499.004
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Nov 28, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Nov 3, 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.
- Affected versionversion=10.0 <10.*
- Affected versionversion=11.0 <11.*
- Affected versionversion=12.0 <12.*
- Affected versionversion=13.0 <13.*
- Affected versionversion=14.0 <14.*
- Affected versionversion=15.0 <15.*
- Affected versionversion=16.0 <16.20.1
- Affected versionversion=17.0 <17.*
- Affected versionversion=18.0 <18.16.1
- Affected versionversion=19.0 <19.*
- Affected versionversion=20.0 <20.3.1
- Affected versionversion=4.0 <4.*
- Affected versionversion=5.0 <5.*
- Affected versionversion=6.0 <6.*
- Affected versionversion=7.0 <7.*
- Affected versionversion=8.0 <8.*
- Affected versionversion=9.0 <9.*
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
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.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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