# CVE-2023-38546 — curl

> As of 2026-07-14, CVE-2023-38546 is a vulnerability in curl, EPSS 5.9% (93.1th percentile). Threadlinqs Intelligence links 1 tracked threat campaign to CVE-2023-38546, most recently “Multiple Fortinet FortiOS Vulnerabilities (incl. CVE-2024-23113) Affect Siemens RUGGEDCOM APE1808 via Bundled Fortinet NGFW < V7.4.3 (SSA-832273)”.

**Last updated:** 2026-07-14

## What is CVE-2023-38546?

This flaw allows an attacker to insert cookies at will into a running program using libcurl, if the specific series of conditions are met. libcurl performs transfers. In its API, an application creates "easy handles" that are the individual handles for single transfers. libcurl provides a function call that duplicates en easy handle called [curl_easy_duphandle](https://curl.se/libcurl/c/curl_easy_duphandle.html). If a transfer has cookies enabled when the handle is duplicated, the cookie-enable state is also cloned - but without cloning the actual cookies. If the source handle did not read any cookies from a specific file on disk, the cloned version of the handle would instead store the file name as `none` (using the four ASCII letters, no quotes). Subsequent use of the cloned handle that does not explicitly set a source to load cookies from would then inadvertently load cookies from a file named `none` - if such a file exists and is readable in the current directory of the program using libcurl. And if using the correct file format of course.

1 affected-product entry is recorded, across 1 vendor, listed below. The identifier was first published 1101 days ago.

## Severity and exploitation probability

- **EPSS (FIRST):** 5.9% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 93.1% of all scored CVEs
- **CISA KEV:** Not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog
- **Threadlinqs priority:** 5.7/10 — a Threadlinqs composite of the CVSS base score, the EPSS percentile and public exploit availability
- **Published:** 2023-10-18, last modified 2026-07-14

## Is CVE-2023-38546 being exploited?

Weaponised exploit code for CVE-2023-38546 is publicly available. 1 public proof-of-concept repository is tracked for this identifier. It currently carries a trending score of 36 in the Threadlinqs vulnerability feed.

- [trickest/cve](https://github.com/trickest/cve/blob/main/2023/CVE-2023-38546.md) (trickest)

## Affected products and versions

- **curl**: curl

## How to fix CVE-2023-38546

No vendor patch reference has been recorded for CVE-2023-38546 in the tracked sources. Follow the references below for a fix, and treat the products listed above as exposed until the vendor states otherwise.

## Threat activity tracking CVE-2023-38546

1 tracked threat in the Threadlinqs corpus references CVE-2023-38546, either in the campaign’s CVE list or as an indicator on the campaign record.

- [Multiple Fortinet FortiOS Vulnerabilities (incl. CVE-2024-23113) Affect Siemens RUGGEDCOM APE1808 via Bundled Fortinet NGFW < V7.4.3 (SSA-832273)](https://intel.threadlinqs.com/threat/TL-2026-2489) — CRITICAL · 2026-09-13

## Sources

Enriched from CVE.org, FIRST EPSS, public proof-of-concept repositories. Last verified by Threadlinqs on 2026-10-10.

**Other references**

- [curl.se](https://curl.se/docs/CVE-2023-38546.html)
- [lists.fedoraproject.org](https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/OGMXNRNSJ4ETDK6FRNU3J7SABXPWCHSQ/)
- [support.apple.com](https://support.apple.com/kb/HT214036)
- [support.apple.com (HT214063)](https://support.apple.com/kb/HT214063)
- [support.apple.com (HT214057)](https://support.apple.com/kb/HT214057)

_Showing 5 of 10 recorded references._

Canonical: https://intel.threadlinqs.com/cve/CVE-2023-38546
Full detection coverage and IOCs for threats exploiting CVE-2023-38546 via the Threadlinqs MCP server (Purple tier): https://intel.threadlinqs.com/mcp