# CVE-2023-23612: Issue with whitespace in JWT roles in OpenSearch > Authenticated users can claim unauthorized roles by exploiting whitespace trimming in JWT processing, leading to privilege escalation. - **Severity:** Medium 4.7 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L`) - **Exploited in the wild:** Not known - **Login needed:** An administrator - **Attackable:** Over the internet - **Victim action needed:** Not needed - **Fix available:** Yes - **Published:** 24 Jan 2023 - **Updated:** 10 Mar 2025 - **Also known as:** GHSA-864v-6qj7-62qj, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-23612 ## What is CVE-2023-23612? CVE-2023-23612 is a medium-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in opensearch-project security, published on 24 Jan 2023. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim. ### Official description OpenSearch is an open source distributed and RESTful search engine. OpenSearch uses JWTs to store role claims obtained from the Identity Provider (IdP) when the authentication backend is SAML or OpenID Connect. There is an issue in how those claims are processed from the JWTs where the leading and trailing whitespace is trimmed, allowing users to potentially claim roles they are not assigned to if any role matches the whitespace-stripped version of the roles they are a member of. This issue is only present for authenticated users, and it requires either the existence of roles that match, not considering leading/trailing whitespace, or the ability for users to create said matching roles. In addition, the Identity Provider must allow leading and trailing spaces in role names. OpenSearch 1.0.0-1.3.7 and 2.0.0-2.4.1 are affected. Users are advised to upgrade to OpenSearch 1.3.8 or 2.5.0. There are no known workarounds for this issue. Weakness: CWE-287 (Improper Authentication) ## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-23612? 4 open source packages ship an affected version, including org.opensearch.plugin:opensearch-security. It affects 1 product. | Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | `org.opensearch.plugin:opensearch-security` | Maven | All versions | 1.3.8 | | `org.opensearch.plugin:opensearch-security` | Maven | All versions | 1.3.8 | | `org.opensearch.plugin:opensearch-security` | Maven | From 2.0.0 | 2.5.0 | | `org.opensearch.plugin:opensearch-security` | Maven | From 2.0.0 | 2.5.0 | Products: Amazon Opensearch. ## How do I fix CVE-2023-23612? Upgrade org.opensearch.plugin:opensearch-security to a fixed version for your release line: 1.3.8 or 2.5.0. ## Is CVE-2023-23612 being exploited? There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-23612 in the wild and no public exploit code. ## Other vulnerabilities in opensearch-project security - [CVE-2022-31115](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-31115/): Unsafe YAML deserialization in opensearch-ruby (high 8.8) - [CVE-2025-9624](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-9624/): OpenSearch 3.2.0 - Nested Boolean/Disjunction asymmetric DoS (high 8.3) - [CVE-2022-35980](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-35980/): OpenSearch vulnerable to Improper Authorization of Index Containing Sensitive Information (high 7.5) - [CVE-2022-41918](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-41918/): Issue with fine-grained access control of indices backing data streams (medium 6.3) - [CVE-2023-23933](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-23933/): Issue in Anomaly Detection with document and field level rules in numerical feature aggregations (medium 5.7) ## Fix prompt for AI coding agents ```text Check this codebase for CVE-2023-23612 and fix it if it is affected. What it is: CVE-2023-23612 is a medium-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in opensearch-project security, published on 24 Jan 2023. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim. Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-23612 in the wild and no public exploit code. Affected packages and fixed versions: - org.opensearch.plugin:opensearch-security (Maven): affected all versions; fixed in 1.3.8 - org.opensearch.plugin:opensearch-security (Maven): affected all versions; fixed in 1.3.8 - org.opensearch.plugin:opensearch-security (Maven): affected from 2.0.0; fixed in 2.5.0 - org.opensearch.plugin:opensearch-security (Maven): affected from 2.0.0; fixed in 2.5.0 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-2023-23612/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-23612/index.md) ``` ## Sources - CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-23612 - NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-23612 - OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-23612 --- From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-23612/ Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.