What’s Vulnerable › Vulnerabilities
CVE-2023-38831: RARLAB WinRAR Code Execution Vulnerability
- Severity: high (CVSS 7.8 v3.1)
- Exploited in the wild: yes — in CISA KEV since 2023-08-24
- EPSS: 99.8% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
- Public exploit or detection template: yes
- Published: 2023-08-23 · updated 2026-08-05
- Weakness: CWE-345
Description
RARLAB WinRAR before 6.23 allows attackers to execute arbitrary code when a user attempts to view a benign file within a ZIP archive. The issue occurs because a ZIP archive may include a benign file (such as an ordinary .JPG file) and also a folder that has the same name as the benign file, and the contents of the folder (which may include executable content) are processed during an attempt to access only the benign file. This was exploited in the wild in April through October 2023.
Affected products
- WinRAR: before 6.23 — fixed in 6.23
How to fix
Upgrade to a fixed version: WinRAR 6.23. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.
References
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/174573/WinRAR-Remote-Code-Execution.html
- https://blog.google/threat-analysis-group/government-backed-actors-exploiting-winrar-vulnerability/
- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37236100
- https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/winrar-zero-day-exploited-since-april-to-hack-trading-accounts/
- https://www.group-ib.com/blog/cve-2023-38831-winrar-zero-day/
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/174573/WinRAR-Remote-Code-Execution.html
- https://blog.google/threat-analysis-group/government-backed-actors-exploiting-winrar-vulnerability/
- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37236100
- https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/winrar-zero-day-exploited-since-april-to-hack-trading-accounts/
- https://www.group-ib.com/blog/cve-2023-38831-winrar-zero-day/
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2023-38831
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