# CVE-2023-0465: Invalid certificate policies in leaf certificates are silently ignored

> A malicious CA can bypass certificate policy checks in OpenSSL if policy processing is explicitly enabled, allowing invalid certificates to be accepted.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.3 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 28 Mar 2023
- **Updated:** 14 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** ALPINE-CVE-2023-0465, AZL-25937, AZL-27241, AZL-31145, AZL-34663, AZL-37716, CLEANSTART-2026-FE14233, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-0465, GHSA-77f3-6546-6rj7, JLSEC-2026-236, SUSE-SU-2023:1912-1, SUSE-SU-2023:1960-1, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-0465

## What is CVE-2023-0465?

CVE-2023-0465 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Openssl Openssl, published on 28 Mar 2023. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Applications that use a non-default option when verifying certificates may be
vulnerable to an attack from a malicious CA to circumvent certain checks.

Invalid certificate policies in leaf certificates are silently ignored by
OpenSSL and other certificate policy checks are skipped for that certificate.
A malicious CA could use this to deliberately assert invalid certificate policies
in order to circumvent policy checking on the certificate altogether.

Policy processing is disabled by default but can be enabled by passing
the `-policy' argument to the command line utilities or by calling the
`X509_VERIFY_PARAM_set1_policies()' function.

Weakness: CWE-295 (Improper Certificate Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-0465?

It affects 1 product.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `compat-openssl098` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Legacy 12 | All versions | 0.9.8j-106.48.1 |
| `openssl` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP4 LTSS EXTREME CORE | All versions | 0.9.8j-0.106.66.1 |
| `compat-openssl098` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP4 | All versions | 0.9.8j-106.48.1 |
| `compat-openssl098` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP5 | All versions | 0.9.8j-106.48.1 |

Products: Openssl Openssl.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-0465?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-0465 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-0465 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Openssl Openssl

- [CVE-2009-3245](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-3245/): Null dereference in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2006-3738](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2006-3738/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2026-63073](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-63073/): Untrusted Sender DN Used as Format String in CMP Response Validation (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2016-6309](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-6309/): Use after free in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2016-0799](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-0799/): Integer overflow in n/a (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-0465 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-0465 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Openssl Openssl, published on 28 Mar 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-2023-0465 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Openssl Openssl. 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-2023-0465/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-0465/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-0465
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-0465
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-0465

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-0465/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.