CVE-2023-5616 Information disclosure in Ubuntu's gnome-control-center

What is CVE-2023-5616?

CVE-2023-5616 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 15 Apr 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

In Ubuntu, gnome-control-center did not properly reflect SSH remote login status when the system was configured to use systemd socket activation for openssh-server. This could unknowingly leave the local machine exposed to remote SSH access contrary to expectation of the user.

Weakness: CWE-290

Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-5616?

It affects 2 products.

Products include Canonical Ubuntu Linux, Gnome Control Center.

How do I fix CVE-2023-5616?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2023-5616 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-5616 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Canonical Ubuntu Linux

• CVE-2020-11651 SaltStack Salt Authentication Bypass Exploited Critical 9.8
• CVE-2020-7247 OpenSMTPD Remote Code Execution Exploited Critical 9.8
• CVE-2019-16928 Exim Out-of-bounds Write Exploited Critical 9.8
• CVE-2018-6789 Exim Buffer Overflow Exploited Critical 9.8
• CVE-2015-2590 Oracle Java SE and Java SE Embedded Remote Code Execution Exploited Critical 9.8

All Canonical Ubuntu Linux vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2023-5616, GHSA-78gq-q74g-w632, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-5616, USN-6554-1.