Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-5870

DoS in Postgresql 11.0 – 11.22

Published
10 December 2023
Modified
04 November 2025
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 2.2
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
EPSS Score 0.025 83th percentile
Risk Priority 27 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-5870 is a low-severity Uncontrolled Resource Consumption (CWE-400) vulnerability in Postgresql Postgresql. Its CVSS base score is 2.2 (Low).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique OS Exhaustion Flood (T1499.001); ranked in the top 17% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A flaw was found in PostgreSQL involving the pg_cancel_backend role that signals background workers, including the logical replication launcher, autovacuum workers, and the autovacuum launcher. Successful exploitation requires a non-core extension with a less-resilient background worker and would affect that…

more

specific background worker only. This issue may allow a remote high privileged user to launch a denial of service (DoS) attack.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1499.001 OS Exhaustion Flood Impact
Adversaries may launch a denial of service (DoS) attack targeting an endpoint's operating system (OS).
T1498 Network Denial of Service Impact
Adversaries may perform Network Denial of Service (DoS) attacks to degrade or block the availability of targeted resources to users.
T1499 Endpoint Denial of Service Impact
Adversaries may perform Endpoint Denial of Service (DoS) attacks to degrade or block the availability of services to users.
T1499.002 Service Exhaustion Flood Impact
Adversaries may target the different network services provided by systems to conduct a denial of service (DoS).
T1499.003 Application Exhaustion Flood Impact
Adversaries may target resource intensive features of applications to cause a denial of service (DoS), denying availability to those applications.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-5868Same product: Postgresql Postgresql
CVE-2023-5157Same product: Redhat Enterprise Linux
CVE-2023-42669Same product: Redhat Enterprise Linux
CVE-2023-5869Same product: Postgresql Postgresql
CVE-2023-2295Same product: Redhat Enterprise Linux
CVE-2026-11611Same product: Redhat Enterprise Linux
CVE-2026-11790Same product: Redhat Enterprise Linux
CVE-2023-6681Same product: Redhat Enterprise Linux
CVE-2023-3637Same vendor: Redhat
CVE-2023-38200Same product: Redhat Enterprise Linux

Affected Assets

postgresql
postgresql
16.0 · 11.0 — 11.22 · 12.0 — 12.17 · 13.0 — 13.13
redhat
codeready linux builder eus
9.2
redhat
codeready linux builder eus for power little endian eus
9.0_ppc64le, 9.2_ppc64le
redhat
codeready linux builder for arm64 eus
8.6_aarch64, 9.0_aarch64, 9.2_aarch64
redhat
codeready linux builder for ibm z systems eus
9.0_s390x, 9.2_s390x
redhat
codeready linux builder for power little endian eus
9.0_ppc64le, 9.2_ppc64le
redhat
software collections
1.0
redhat
enterprise linux
8.0, 9.0
redhat
enterprise linux eus
8.6, 8.8, 9.0, 9.2
redhat
enterprise linux for arm 64
8.0, 8.8_aarch64
+6 more product configuration(s) — see NVD for full list

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-400

Limiting concurrent sessions directly prevents uncontrolled resource consumption by capping the number of active sessions per user or account.

addresses: CWE-400

Analysis identifies uncontrolled resource consumption indicative of denial-of-service or abuse attempts.

addresses: CWE-400

Contingency plan testing includes resource exhaustion scenarios to verify recovery, making it harder for attackers to sustain exploits that cause uncontrolled consumption.

addresses: CWE-400

Updated contingency plans include current procedures to detect, contain, and recover from resource exhaustion, limiting an attacker's ability to sustain impact from uncontrolled consumption.

addresses: CWE-400

Alternate site allows resumption of operations if resource exhaustion at the primary site is exploited to cause unavailability.

addresses: CWE-400

Alternate telecommunications services enable resumption of essential functions when primary services become unavailable due to uncontrolled resource consumption.

addresses: CWE-400

The team can analyze and respond to resource exhaustion incidents, reducing the impact of attacks that exploit uncontrolled consumption weaknesses.

addresses: CWE-400

Timely maintenance support and spare parts enable rapid recovery from failures induced by uncontrolled resource consumption, shortening the impact window of denial-of-service attacks.

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.IR-04 mostly match
prevents

Explicitly requires monitoring and maintaining resource capacity, directly addressing uncontrolled consumption to preserve availability.

DE.CM-09 partial match
prevents

Continuous monitoring of computing resources can detect resource exhaustion but does not itself enforce allocation limits.

PR.IR-03 partial match
prevents

Resilience mechanisms such as avoiding single points of failure indirectly reduce impact of resource exhaustion.

PR.PS-01 partial match
prevents

Hardened configuration baselines can include resource quotas and limits that constrain consumption.

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

Resource-utilization monitoring and alerting on bottlenecks or overloads limits the impact of denial-of-service or resource-exhaustion attacks.

prevents

By continuously monitoring utilization, stress-testing peak loads, and maintaining documented plans to scale or throttle resources, the control directly limits an attacker’s ability to drive a system into uncontrolled resource exhaustion.

finds

Pre-agreed severity-based prioritization and resource allocation during incident triage reduce the likelihood that an attacker-induced resource exhaustion will overwhelm the organization before corrective action is taken.

mitigates

Business-continuity plans that include resource-management controls reduce the likelihood that an attacker can trigger uncontrolled resource consumption by forcing the system into a degraded or fallback state.

mitigates

Defining RTOs and capacity requirements for ICT services during business-impact analysis forces organizations to provision sufficient resources and throttling mechanisms, reducing the likelihood that an attacker can induce denial-of-service through uncontrolled resource consumption.

finds

Early notification of anomalous resource consumption or system malfunctions enables throttling or isolation before availability is lost.

References