Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-33193

Emby.Releases ≤ 4.7.0.12

Published
30 May 2023
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 9.1
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
EPSS Score 0.017 75th percentile
Risk Priority 89 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-33193 is a critical-severity HTTP Request/Response Smuggling (CWE-444) vulnerability in Emby Emby.Releases. Its CVSS base score is 9.1 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked in the top 25% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

Emby Server, a user-installable home media server, contains a header spoofing vulnerability that affects the local versus non-local network determination logic used for reverse proxy interoperability. By manipulating specific headers, an unauthenticated remote attacker can bypass intended access controls on publicly reachable installations where administrative accounts lack password requirements or other hardening. The flaw is tracked as CWE-444 and carries a CVSS 3.1 score of 9.1.

An attacker with network access to an exposed Emby Server instance can spoof the relevant headers to either enumerate user accounts that have no password set or obtain administrative login without credentials, depending on the server's account configuration. This requires no prior authentication and succeeds against default or loosely configured deployments.

The official Emby security advisory states that the issue is resolved in Emby Server 4.7.12 and Beta 4.8.31; administrators are advised to apply these updates and restrict administrative accounts to require passwords. The associated EPSS score reached a peak of 0.5704 before receding to its current value of 0.4567.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Emby Server is a user-installable home media server which stores and organizes a user's media files of virtually any format and makes them available for viewing at home and abroad on a broad range of client devices. This vulnerability may…

more

allow administrative access to an Emby Server system, depending on certain user account settings. By spoofing certain headers which are intended for interoperation with reverse proxy servers, it may be possible to affect the local/non-local network determination to allow logging in without password or to view a list of user accounts which may have no password configured. Impacted are all Emby Server system which are publicly accessible and where the administrator hasn't tightened the account login configuration for administrative users. This issue has been patched in Emby Server Beta version 4.8.31 and Emby Server version 4.7.12.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-4167Same product: Emby Emby.Releases
CVE-2020-26948Same vendor: Emby
CVE-2026-40562Shared CWE-444
CVE-2026-42581Shared CWE-444
CVE-2025-55018Shared CWE-444
CVE-2024-27185Shared CWE-444
CVE-2023-4639Shared CWE-444
CVE-2025-1386Shared CWE-444
CVE-2023-37276Shared CWE-444
CVE-2025-14523Shared CWE-444

Affected Assets

emby
emby.releases
≤ 4.7.0.12 · 4.8.0.0 — 4.8.31

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V4.1.3
  • V4.2.4
  • V1.5.3
  • V4.1.1

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-01 mostly match
prevents

Configuration management can enforce uniform HTTP parsing rules across intermediaries, directly mitigating inconsistent interpretation.

DE.CM-01 partial match
prevents

Network monitoring can detect smuggling attempts via anomalous HTTP traffic or logs, while eliminating the inconsistency directly aids detection of such events.

PR.IR-01 partial match
prevents

Network protections can enforce consistent HTTP proxy/firewall behavior to block smuggling, and removing the weakness helps prevent unauthorized access via request smuggling.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

finds

Security testing can detect HTTP request smuggling vulnerabilities in intermediary components.

degrades

Network security controls can enforce consistent HTTP parsing and proxy behavior that mitigates request smuggling.

degrades

Secure network services include hardening proxies and gateways against inconsistent HTTP interpretation.

prevents

Secure SDLC practices require threat modeling and testing for HTTP parsing inconsistencies in intermediaries.

prevents

Application security requirements can mandate strict HTTP message validation and canonicalization.

prevents

Secure architecture principles include consistent protocol handling and defense-in-depth for proxies.

References