# CVE-2023-5422: SSL Certificates are not checked for E-Mail Handling

> Attackers can bypass SSL certificate validation in email communications, enabling man-in-the-middle attacks to intercept or modify data.

- **Severity:** High 8.7 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 16 Oct 2023
- **Updated:** 16 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-qxp6-m9jg-58rw, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-5422

## What is CVE-2023-5422?

CVE-2023-5422 is a high-severity vulnerability in Otrs Otrs, published on 16 Oct 2023. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The functions to fetch e-mail via POP3 or IMAP as well as sending e-mail via SMTP use OpenSSL for static SSL or TLS based communication. As the 
SSL_get_verify_result() function is not used the certificated is trusted always and it can not be ensured that the certificate 
satisfies all necessary security requirements.

This could allow an 
attacker to use an invalid certificate to claim to be a trusted host, 
use expired certificates, or conduct other attacks that could be 
detected if the certificate is properly validated.

This issue affects OTRS: from 7.0.X before 7.0.47, from 8.0.X before 8.0.37; ((OTRS)) Community Edition: from 6.0.X through 6.0.34.

Weakness: CWE-295 (Improper Certificate Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-5422?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Otrs Otrs.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-5422?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-5422 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-5422 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-5422 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Otrs Otrs

- [CVE-2026-48188](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-48188/): SQL Injection via MySQL Quote Method (critical 9.1)
- [CVE-2013-4717](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-4717/): SQL injection in n/a (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2017-14635](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-14635/): Code injection in n/a (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2023-6254](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-6254/): Password is send back to client (high 8.1)
- [CVE-2023-2534](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-2534/): Information disclouse and DoS via websocket push events (high 7.6)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-5422 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-5422 is a high-severity vulnerability in Otrs Otrs, published on 16 Oct 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-2023-5422 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Otrs Otrs. 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-2023-5422/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-5422/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-5422
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-5422
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-5422

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-5422/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.