CVE-2023-38831 — Security Box Score

CVE · referencelatest edition

Reference page — cumulative record through Wednesday, August 19, 2026 UTC. Reference pages update as the archive grows; only dated daily editions are immutable pages of record.

CVE-2023-38831HIGH

n/a n/a — RARLAB WinRAR

  AV  AC  PR  UI  S  C  I  A   CVSS    EPSS   %ile   KEV
   L   L   N   R  U  H  H  H    7.8   .9781   99.9   YES

AFFECTED
  Product  Versions  Fixed
  n/a      n/a –     —

TIMELINE
  Jul 25  Reserved by mitre
  Aug 24  Added to CISA KEV, remediation due 2023-09-14
  Aug 24  Published (CNA: mitre)
  Aug 5   EXPLOIT PUBLISHED — CVE-2023-38831. Public exploit reference added.

CWE-345, CWE-351 · CNA: mitre · CVSS v3.1 · 6 references · NVD status: Analyzed · KEV due September 14, 2023

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.

Lifecycle

Complete event history — 4 events, chronological
Date	Event	Detail
July 25, 2023	Reserved	Reserved by mitre
August 24, 2023	KEV ADDED	Added to CISA KEV, remediation due 2023-09-14
August 24, 2023	Published	Published (CNA: mitre)
August 5, 2026	EXPLOIT PUBLISHED	EXPLOIT PUBLISHED — CVE-2023-38831. Public exploit reference added.

Affected

Affected products and packages — 1 row
Vendor	Product / Package	Ecosystem	Version introduced	Fixed
n/a	n/a	—	n/a	—

Weaknesses

CWE-345 · CWE-351

References (6)

http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/174573/WinRAR-Remote-Code-Execution.html [Exploit, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry]
https://blog.google/threat-analysis-group/government-backed-actors-exploiting-winrar-vulnerability/ [Exploit, Third Party Advisory]
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37236100 [Issue Tracking]
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/winrar-zero-day-exploited-since-april-to-hack-trading-accounts/ [Exploit, Press/Media Coverage, Third Party Advisory]
https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2023-38831 [US Government Resource]
https://www.group-ib.com/blog/cve-2023-38831-winrar-zero-day/ [Exploit, Press/Media Coverage, Third Party Advisory]

Authoritative record: CVE-2023-38831 at cve.org

Weaknesses: CWE-345 · CWE-351

About this page

This is a reference page, not a dated page of record. It assembles the complete lifecycle of CVE-2023-38831 from the CVE Program record, NVD enrichment, the CISA KEV catalog, EPSS, and OSV advisories. The box score's numbers (CVSS, EPSS, KEV status) are current as of Wednesday, August 19, 2026 UTC and are re-derived as the archive grows; only dated daily editions are immutable pages of record. The authoritative source for this identifier is cve.org.