# CVE-2023-0466: Certificate policy check not enabled

> Applications relying on implicit policy checks in OpenSSL may accept invalid certificates, requiring explicit configuration to enforce policy verification.

- **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-2023-0466, AZL-25936, AZL-47700, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-0466, GHSA-pxvj-4wx4-gv6w, JLSEC-2026-237, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-0466

## What is CVE-2023-0466?

CVE-2023-0466 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

The function X509_VERIFY_PARAM_add0_policy() is documented to
implicitly enable the certificate policy check when doing certificate
verification. However the implementation of the function does not
enable the check which allows certificates with invalid or incorrect
policies to pass the certificate verification.

As suddenly enabling the policy check could break existing deployments it was
decided to keep the existing behavior of the X509_VERIFY_PARAM_add0_policy()
function.

Instead the applications that require OpenSSL to perform certificate
policy check need to use X509_VERIFY_PARAM_set1_policies() or explicitly
enable the policy check by calling X509_VERIFY_PARAM_set_flags() with
the X509_V_FLAG_POLICY_CHECK flag argument.

Certificate policy checks are disabled by default in OpenSSL and are not
commonly used by applications.

Weakness: CWE-295 (Improper Certificate Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-0466?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Openssl Openssl.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-0466?

Change a configuration setting.

## Is CVE-2023-0466 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-0466 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-2023-0466 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-0466 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-2023-0466 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-2023-0466/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-0466/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-0466
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-0466
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-0466

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-0466/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.