# CVE-2023-0296: Weak cryptography in Red Hat OpenShift

> The etcd grpc-proxy health check port uses weak 64-bit block ciphers, potentially allowing data exposure via birthday attacks, though impact is minimal.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.3 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 17 Jan 2023
- **Updated:** 4 Apr 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-wpff-vmpr-5q22

## What is CVE-2023-0296?

CVE-2023-0296 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Redhat Openshift, published on 17 Jan 2023. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The Birthday attack against 64-bit block ciphers flaw (CVE-2016-2183) was reported for the health checks port (9979) on etcd grpc-proxy component. Even though the CVE-2016-2183 has been fixed in the etcd components, to enable periodic health checks from kubelet, it was necessary to open up a new port (9979) on etcd grpc-proxy, hence this port might be considered as still vulnerable to the same type of vulnerability. The health checks on etcd grpc-proxy do not contain sensitive data (only metrics data), therefore the potential impact related to this vulnerability is minimal. The CVE-2023-0296 has been assigned to this issue to track the permanent fix in the etcd component.

Weakness: CWE-327 (Use of a Broken or Risky Cryptographic Algorithm)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-0296?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Redhat Openshift.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-0296?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-0296 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-0296 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-0296 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Redhat Openshift

- [CVE-2014-3496](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-3496/): Command injection in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2014-0234](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-0234/): Hardcoded credentials in Red Hat OpenShift Enterprise (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2013-2060](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2060/): Command injection in OpenShift Origin (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2013-4561](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-4561/): Path traversal in openshift-origin-msg-node-mcollective (critical 9.1)
- [CVE-2014-0163](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-0163/): Command injection in Openshift (high 8.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-0296 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-0296 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Redhat Openshift, published on 17 Jan 2023. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-0296 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Redhat Openshift. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-0296/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-0296/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-0296
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-0296
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-0296

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-0296/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.