Security Resilience

CVE-2023-3774

Hashicorp Vault 1.12.8 … 1.14.0

Published
28 July 2023
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 4.9
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0069 52th percentile
Risk Priority 40 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2023-3774 is a medium-severity Uncaught Exception (CWE-248) vulnerability in Hashicorp Vault. Its CVSS base score is 4.9 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Steganography (T1001.002); ranked in the top 48% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

An unhandled error in Vault Enterprise's namespace creation may cause the Vault process to crash, potentially resulting in denial of service. Fixed in 1.14.1, 1.13.5, and 1.12.9.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1001.002 Steganography Command And Control
Adversaries may use steganographic techniques to hide command and control traffic to make detection efforts more difficult.
T1001.003 Protocol or Service Impersonation Command And Control
Adversaries may impersonate legitimate protocols or web service traffic to disguise command and control activity and thwart analysis efforts.
T1007 System Service Discovery Discovery
Adversaries may try to gather information about registered local system services.
T1016 System Network Configuration Discovery Discovery
Adversaries may look for details about the network configuration and settings, such as IP and/or MAC addresses, of systems they access or through information discovery of remote systems.
T1020.001 Traffic Duplication Exfiltration
Adversaries may leverage traffic mirroring in order to automate data exfiltration over compromised infrastructure.
T1021 Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may use [Valid Accounts](https://attack.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-4656Same product: Hashicorp Vault
CVE-2023-5954Same product: Hashicorp Vault
CVE-2023-6337Same product: Hashicorp Vault
CVE-2025-6203Same product: Hashicorp Vault
CVE-2026-5807Same product: Hashicorp Vault
CVE-2025-12044Same product: Hashicorp Vault
CVE-2025-6014Same product: Hashicorp Vault
CVE-2025-6037Same product: Hashicorp Vault
CVE-2026-3605Same product: Hashicorp Vault
CVE-2026-4525Same product: Hashicorp Vault

Affected Assets

hashicorp
vault
1.12.8, 1.13.4, 1.14.0

Mitigating Controls

Likely Mitigating Controls AI

Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.

addresses: CWE-755 CWE-248

Enforces structured response to exceptional conditions so the system cannot remain in an unsafe state.

addresses: CWE-755 CWE-248

Mandates defined procedures that ensure exceptional conditions are handled in a controlled, secure manner instead of being ignored or mishandled.

addresses: CWE-755

Provides defined handling (alert and additional actions) for the exceptional condition of audit logging failure.

addresses: CWE-755

Supplies a concrete handling action (safe mode) for exceptional conditions, mitigating risks from improper or absent handling that could allow continued attacks.

addresses: CWE-755

By preparing users for contingency scenarios, the control promotes proper handling of exceptional conditions instead of default or unsafe behaviors.

addresses: CWE-755

An updated contingency plan defines current actions for exceptional conditions, reducing the window for attackers to exploit improper handling leading to system failure.

addresses: CWE-755

Procedures ensure proper handling of exceptional conditions to support effective incident response.

addresses: CWE-755

Incident response testing confirms proper handling of exceptional conditions to limit exploit impact.

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-06 partial match
blocks

Secure SDLC practices explicitly require structured exception handling to prevent uncaught exceptions from reaching production.

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.

removes
removes
removes
removes
degrades

Documented operating procedures may specify exception handling but do not guarantee implementation.

Hardening callouts derived

DISA STIG baselines are authored against specific weaknesses. Where this CVE cites a broad weakness class, the mapping is not asserted at that abstraction (owner ruling, 2026-09-25: grade only at Base and below), so no rule is shown here rather than a rule shown against the wrong grain.

  • No fine-grained STIG row for CWE-755, a class-level weakness. Rules are authored against its narrower children: CWE-274, CWE-280, CWE-333.

References