Summary
notation-go's verification bypass can cause users to verify the wrong artifact
Workarounds
User should use secure and trusted container registries.
Credits
The notation project would like to thank Adam Korczynski (@AdamKorcz) for responsibly disclosing the issue found during an security audit (facilitated by OSTIF and sponsored by CNCF) and Shiwei Zhang (@shizhMSFT), Pritesh Bandi (@priteshbandi) for root cause analysis.
Impact
An attacker who controls or compromises a registry can lead a user to verify the wrong artifact.
CVE-2023-33959 has a CVSS score of 8.8 (High). The vector is network-reachable, no privileges required, and user interaction required. A CVSS score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether this affects your application depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable in your environment. A fixed version is available (1.0.0-rc.6); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.
Affected versions
Security releases
Kodem intelligence
Severity tells you how bad this could be in the worst case. It does not tell you whether you are exposed. Exploitability and impact are functions of runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A vulnerable package can sit in your dependency tree and never run.
Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter. Kodem's runtime-powered SCA identifies whether this CVE is reachable in your applications.
Already deployed Kodem?
See it in your environmentNew to Kodem? Get a demo →Remediation advice
The problem has been fixed in the release v1.0.0-rc.6. Users should upgrade their notation-go library to v1.0.0-rc.6 or above.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2023-33959? CVE-2023-33959 is a high-severity security vulnerability in github.com/notaryproject/notation-go (go), affecting versions < 1.0.0-rc.6. It is fixed in 1.0.0-rc.6.
- How severe is CVE-2023-33959? CVE-2023-33959 has a CVSS score of 8.8 (High). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.
- Which versions of github.com/notaryproject/notation-go are affected by CVE-2023-33959? github.com/notaryproject/notation-go (go) versions < 1.0.0-rc.6 is affected.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2023-33959? Yes. CVE-2023-33959 is fixed in 1.0.0-rc.6. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is CVE-2023-33959 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2023-33959 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
- What actually determines whether CVE-2023-33959 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
- How do I fix CVE-2023-33959? Upgrade
github.com/notaryproject/notation-goto 1.0.0-rc.6 or later.