CVE-2023-38738Network attack vector

Account takeover via recoverable password encryption

Published Jan 19, 2024 · Updated Jun 16, 2025

Privilege escalation in IBM OpenPages with Watson 8.3 and 9.0 allows attackers with database access to take over other accounts. Native authentication stores user passwords with symmetric encryption, leaving credentials recoverable from the OpenPages database. Exploitation requires database access and Native authentication; LDAP and SSO deployments do not persist the affected credentials.

CVSS severity6.8
Medium
EPSS probability0.53%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Privilege escalation in IBM OpenPages with Watson 8.3 and 9.0 allows attackers with database access to take over other accounts. Native authentication stores user passwords with symmetric encryption, leaving credentials recoverable from the OpenPages database. Exploitation requires database access and Native authentication; LDAP and SSO deployments do not persist the affected credentials.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-38738
Published
Jan 19, 2024
Updated
Jun 16, 2025
Vendor
IBM
Product
OpenPages
Classifications
CWE-257, T1555, T1078
Attack vector
network
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Jan 19, 2024CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Jun 16, 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=8.3, 9.0

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

IBM · OpenPagesversion=8.3, 9.0

Published CVSS scores

6.8IBM CorporationCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
8.1NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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)
Vectornetwork
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-257Storing Passwords in a Recoverable Format
T1555Credentials from Password Stores
T1078Valid Accounts

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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