Summary
References
Impact
quiche v. 0.15.0 through 0.19.0 was discovered to be vulnerable to unbounded queuing of path validation messages, which could lead to excessive resource consumption.
QUIC path validation (RFC 9000 Section 8.2) requires that the recipient of a PATH_CHALLENGE frame responds by sending a PATH_RESPONSE. An unauthenticated remote attacker can exploit the vulnerability by sending PATH_CHALLENGE frames and manipulating the connection (e.g. by restricting the peer's congestion window size) so that PATH_RESPONSE frames can only be sent at the slower rate than they are received, leading to storage of path validation data in an unbounded queue.
Crafted input forces the application to consume excessive CPU, memory, or other resources, degrading or denying service. Typical impact: denial of service.
CVE-2023-6193 has a CVSS score of 5.3 (Medium). The vector is network-reachable, no privileges required, and no user interaction. 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 (0.19.1); 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.
Remediation advice
Quiche versions greater than 0.19.0 address this problem.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2023-6193? CVE-2023-6193 is a medium-severity uncontrolled resource consumption vulnerability in quiche (rust), affecting versions >= 0.15.0, < 0.19.1. It is fixed in 0.19.1. Crafted input forces the application to consume excessive CPU, memory, or other resources, degrading or denying service.
- How severe is CVE-2023-6193? CVE-2023-6193 has a CVSS score of 5.3 (Medium). 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 quiche are affected by CVE-2023-6193? quiche (rust) versions >= 0.15.0, < 0.19.1 is affected.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2023-6193? Yes. CVE-2023-6193 is fixed in 0.19.1. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is CVE-2023-6193 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2023-6193 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-2023-6193 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-2023-6193? Upgrade
quicheto 0.19.1 or later.