CVE-2023-45283
Insecure parsing of Windows paths with a \??\ prefix in path/filepath
At a glance
- Severity
- Not available
- EPSS
- EPSS 2.76 % · percentile 86 (2026-10-27)
- State
- PUBLISHED
- Published
- Updated
- Assigner
- Go
- NVD status
- Modified
Description
The filepath package does not recognize paths with a \??\ prefix as special. On Windows, a path beginning with \??\ is a Root Local Device path equivalent to a path beginning with \\?\. Paths with a \??\ prefix may be used to access arbitrary locations on the system. For example, the path \??\c:\x is equivalent to the more common path c:\x. Before fix, Clean could convert a rooted path such as \a\..\??\b into the root local device path \??\b. Clean will now convert this to .\??\b. Similarly, Join(\, ??, b) could convert a seemingly innocent sequence of path elements into the root local device path \??\b. Join will now convert this to \.\??\b. In addition, with fix, IsAbs now correctly reports paths beginning with \??\ as absolute, and VolumeName correctly reports the \??\ prefix as a volume name. UPDATE: Go 1.20.11 and Go 1.21.4 inadvertently changed the definition of the volume name in Windows paths starting with \?, resulting in filepath.Clean(\?\c:) returning \?\c: rather than \?\c:\ (among other effects). The previous behavior has been restored.
Scores
| Version | Score | Vector | Scored by |
|---|---|---|---|
| CVSS 3.1 | HIGH 7.5 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N | NVD · nvd@nist.gov (Primary) |
Weaknesses (CWE)
Advisories
- GO-2023-2185 — Insecure parsing of Windows paths with a \??\ prefix in path/filepath
European references
- ENISA EUVD · EUVD-2023-49584
- GCVE · GCVE-0-2023-45283
CERT-FR advisories
- CERTFR-2026-AVI-0339 — Multiples vulnérabilités dans les produits VMware · cert.ssi.gouv.fr
- CERTFR-2026-AVI-0199 — Multiples vulnérabilités dans les produits VMware · cert.ssi.gouv.fr
- CERTFR-2025-AVI-0969 — Multiples vulnérabilités dans les produits VMware · cert.ssi.gouv.fr
- CERTFR-2025-AVI-0622 — Multiples vulnérabilités dans les produits VMware · cert.ssi.gouv.fr
- CERTFR-2025-AVI-0283 — Multiples vulnérabilités dans VMware Tanzu Greenplum · cert.ssi.gouv.fr
- CERTFR-2025-AVI-0256 — Multiples vulnérabilités dans Broadcom VMware Tanzu Greenplum · cert.ssi.gouv.fr
- CERTFR-2025-AVI-0003 — Multiples vulnérabilités dans les produits IBM · cert.ssi.gouv.fr
- CERTFR-2024-AVI-0878 — Multiples vulnérabilités dans les produits Splunk · cert.ssi.gouv.fr
- CERTFR-2024-AVI-0646 — Multiples vulnérabilités dans les produits IBM · cert.ssi.gouv.fr
- CERTFR-2024-AVI-0350 — Multiples vulnérabilités dans les produits IBM · cert.ssi.gouv.fr
Affected configurations (NVD CPE)
cpe:2.3:a:golang:go:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*< 1.20.11cpe:2.3:a:golang:go:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*≥ 1.21.0-0 < 1.21.4
Affected products
| Product | Versions |
|---|---|
| Go standard library · path/filepath | affected 0 < 1.20.11 ; affected 1.21.0-0 < 1.21.4 |
| Go standard library · internal/safefilepath | affected 0 < 1.20.11 ; affected 1.21.0-0 < 1.21.4 |
| Go standard library · path/filepath | affected 1.20.11 < 1.20.12 ; affected 1.21.4 < 1.21.5 |
References
- https://go.dev/issue/63713
- https://go.dev/cl/540277
- https://groups.google.com/g/golang-announce/c/4tU8LZfBFkY
- https://go.dev/issue/64028
- https://go.dev/cl/541175
- https://groups.google.com/g/golang-dev/c/6ypN5EjibjM/m/KmLVYH_uAgAJ
- https://pkg.go.dev/vuln/GO-2023-2185
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/12/05/2
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20231214-0008/
Sources
| Source | Licence |
|---|---|
| CVE List (CVEProject cvelistV5) | CVE Program Terms of Use |
| EPSS (FIRST.org) | FIRST — attribution requested |
| ENISA EUVD | ENISA — reproduction authorised, source acknowledged |
| CERT-FR (ANSSI) | Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0 |
| NVD (NIST) via fkie-cad/nvd-json-data-feeds | Public domain — this product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD |