Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-48365

Qlik Sense august_2022 … november_2022

CISA KEVActive ExploitationEUVD ExploitedRansomware-linked
Published
15 November 2023
Modified
31 October 2025
KEV Added
13 January 2025
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 0.25 98th percentile
Risk Priority 92 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-48365 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 2% 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.

Qlik Sense Enterprise for Windows versions prior to the August 2023 Patch 2 are affected by CVE-2023-48365, a high-severity flaw that permits unauthenticated remote code execution. The root cause is improper validation of HTTP headers that allows request tunneling, and the issue stems from an incomplete remediation of the earlier CVE-2023-41265. The vulnerability carries a CVSS score of 9.6 and is tracked under CWE-444.

An attacker with network access can exploit the header-validation weakness to elevate privileges and forward arbitrary HTTP requests to the backend repository server, achieving remote code execution on that host without requiring authentication.

Vendor guidance published by Qlik directs customers to apply one of the listed fixed releases, specifically August 2023 Patch 2 or the corresponding back-ported patches for earlier branches. The flaw is also catalogued in CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list, confirming in-the-wild exploitation.

The associated EPSS score has reached a peak of 0.6423 with a current value of 0.5622, indicating sustained exploitation interest after disclosure.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A06:2025 Insecure Design

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Qlik Sense Enterprise for Windows before August 2023 Patch 2 allows unauthenticated remote code execution, aka QB-21683. Due to improper validation of HTTP headers, a remote attacker is able to elevate their privilege by tunneling HTTP requests, allowing them to…

more

execute HTTP requests on the backend server that hosts the repository application. The fixed versions are August 2023 Patch 2, May 2023 Patch 6, February 2023 Patch 10, November 2022 Patch 12, August 2022 Patch 14, May 2022 Patch 16, February 2022 Patch 15, and November 2021 Patch 17. NOTE: this issue exists because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2023-41265.

CWE(s)
CWE-444
KEV Date Added
13 January 2025

Related Threats

Threat-Actor AttributionAI

Cl0paka Clop
Ransomware group Cl0p exploited Qlik Sense zero-days including this CVE per CISA KEV ransomware flag and 2023 vendor reporting.

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-2023-41265Same 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, august_2023, february_2022, february_2023, may_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