# CVE-2023-38712: Null dereference in n/a

> A NULL pointer dereference in Libreswan's IKEv1 handling allows remote attackers to crash the pluto daemon, causing a denial of service.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 25 Aug 2023
- **Updated:** 2 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** AZL-28066, AZL-34937, CLSA-2025-1757962152, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-38712, GHSA-65xr-g9j5-jv8g, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-38712

## What is CVE-2023-38712?

CVE-2023-38712 is a medium-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 25 Aug 2023. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

An issue was discovered in Libreswan 3.x and 4.x before 4.12. When an IKEv1 ISAKMP SA Informational Exchange packet contains a Delete/Notify payload followed by further Notifies that act on the ISAKMP SA, such as a duplicated Delete/Notify message, a NULL pointer dereference on the deleted state causes the pluto daemon to crash and restart.

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-38712?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Libreswan Libreswan.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-38712?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2023-38712 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-38712 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2013-7283](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-7283/): Race condition in n/a (critical 9.3)
- [CVE-2026-12413](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-12413/): IKEv2 Denial of Service via malformed fragmentation (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2026-50721](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-50721/): IKEv1 Denial of Service via RSA-SHA1 (PKCS#1 Version 1.5 Encrypted) authentication payload (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2026-50722](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-50722/): IKEv2 Denial of Service via RSA-SHA1 (PKCS#1 RSASSA-PKCS1-v1_5) authentication payload (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2023-30570](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-30570/): Denial of service in n/a (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-38712 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-38712 is a medium-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 25 Aug 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-2023-38712 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-2023-38712/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-38712/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-38712
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-38712
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-38712

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-38712/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.