Vulnerability · Published Apr 15, 2025 · Assigned by canonical
CVE-2023-5616
Medium 4.9
In plain English
A medium-severity authentication bypass by spoofing in Ubuntu's gnome-control-center from Canonical Ltd.. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.2% (higher than 14% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.
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.
Affected packages & fixed versions
| Ecosystem | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian:12 | gnome-control-center | no fix listed | DEBIAN-CVE-2023-5616 |
| Debian:13 | gnome-control-center | no fix listed | DEBIAN-CVE-2023-5616 |
| Debian:14 | gnome-control-center | no fix listed | DEBIAN-CVE-2023-5616 |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | gnome-control-center | 1:41.7-0ubuntu0.22.04.8 | USN-6554-1 |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | gnome-control-center | 1:41.7-0ubuntu0.22.04.8 | UBUNTU-CVE-2023-5616 |
| Ubuntu:24.04:LTS | gnome-control-center | 1:45.0-1ubuntu4 | UBUNTU-CVE-2023-5616 |
Affected products (as reported)
| Vendor | Product | Versions |
|---|---|---|
| Canonical Ltd. | Ubuntu's gnome-control-center | 1:45 – before 1:45.0-1ubuntu3.11:44 – before 1:44.0-1ubuntu6.11:41 – before 1:41.7-0ubuntu0.22.04.81:3 – before 1:3.36.5-0ubuntu4.1 |
Weakness: CWE-290 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L
References
- https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-control-center/+bug/2039577 issue-tracking
- https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-6554-1 vendor-advisory
- https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-5616 issue-tracking