# CVE-2023-33981: Business logic in n/a

> Attackers can spoof user messages in Briar by duplicating legitimate messages, compromising message integrity in blogs, forums, and private groups.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 24 May 2023
- **Updated:** 16 Jan 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-h8qw-575q-g9c5

## What is CVE-2023-33981?

CVE-2023-33981 is a medium-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 24 May 2023. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Briar before 1.4.22 allows attackers to spoof other users' messages in a blog, forum, or private group, but each spoofed message would need to be an exact duplicate of a legitimate message displayed alongside the spoofed one.

Weakness: CWE-354 (Improper Validation of Integrity Check Value)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-33981?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Briarproject Briar.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-33981?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-33981 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-33981 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-33981 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2023-33980](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-33980/): Bramble Synchronisation Protocol (BSP) in Briar before 1.4.22 allows attackers to cause a denial of service (repeated application crashes) v (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2023-33983](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-33983/): Missing authorization in n/a (high 7.4)
- [CVE-2023-33982](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-33982/): Weak cryptography in n/a (medium 5.9)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-33981 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-33981 is a medium-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 24 May 2023. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-33981 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: n/a. 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-2023-33981/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-33981/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-33981
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-33981
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-33981

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-33981/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.