Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-41265

Qlik Sense august_2022 … november_2022

CISA KEVActive ExploitationEUVD ExploitedRansomware-linked
Published
29 August 2023
Modified
05 August 2026
KEV Added
07 December 2023
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 9.6
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N
EPSS Score 0.84 99.7th percentile
Risk Priority 92 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-41265 is a critical-severity HTTP Request/Response Smuggling (CWE-444) vulnerability in Qlik Qlik Sense. Its CVSS base score is 9.6 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked in the top 0.3% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; CISA has added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities 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.

CVE-2023-41265 is an HTTP request tunneling vulnerability affecting Qlik Sense Enterprise for Windows in the May 2023 Patch 3 and earlier, February 2023 Patch 7 and earlier, November 2022 Patch 10 and earlier, and August 2022 Patch 12 and earlier releases. The flaw, tracked under CWE-444, permits an attacker to craft raw HTTP requests that tunnel through the frontend and are executed by the backend repository application server.

A remote attacker with low privileges can exploit the issue over the network without user interaction to elevate privileges, achieving high impact on confidentiality and integrity with changed scope. The vulnerability carries a CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.6.

Qlik has published critical security fixes addressing the issue and states that the vulnerability is resolved in the August 2023 IR, May 2023 Patch 4, February 2023 Patch 8, November 2022 Patch 11, and August 2022 Patch 13 releases; the associated advisories and release notes are available on the Qlik Community site. The CVE is also listed in CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.

The EPSS score has reached a peak of 0.9252 with a current value of 0.9241, indicating sustained exploitation interest after disclosure.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A06:2025 Insecure Design

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

An HTTP Request Tunneling vulnerability found in Qlik Sense Enterprise for Windows for versions May 2023 Patch 3 and earlier, February 2023 Patch 7 and earlier, November 2022 Patch 10 and earlier, and August 2022 Patch 12 and earlier allows…

more

a remote attacker to elevate their privilege by tunneling HTTP requests in the raw HTTP request. This allows them to send requests that get executed by the backend server hosting the repository application. This is fixed in August 2023 IR, May 2023 Patch 4, February 2023 Patch 8, November 2022 Patch 11, and August 2022 Patch 13.

CWE(s)
CWE-444
KEV Date Added
07 December 2023

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.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-48365Same product: Qlik Qlik Senseboth on KEV
CVE-2023-41266Same product: Qlik Qlik Senseboth on KEV
CVE-2025-61138Same product: Qlik Qlik Sense
CVE-2022-22536Shared CWE-444both on KEV
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

Affected Assets

qlik
qlik sense
august_2022, february_2023, may_2023, november_2022

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.

A.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
finds

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

A.8.20 Networks security partial match
degrades

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

A.8.21 Security of network services partial match
degrades

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

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

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

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
prevents

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

A.8.27 Secure system architecture and engineering principles partial match
prevents

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

References