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What is CVE-2023-5870?A medium-severity flaw in PostgreSQL, explained.

Medium severity16 affected products
The short answer

CVE-2023-5870 is a medium-severity flaw (CVSS 4.4) in PostgreSQL, published on 10 December 2023. It is not on the list of flaws known to be exploited today. The latest forecast puts its chance of use in the next 30 days at 2.6%. If you run an affected version, plan in the vendor’s fix.

Check if it affects you →How to fix it

Published 10 December 2023. Record last updated 4 November 2025. We keep this page's data up to date.

What it does

What is CVE-2023-5870? In plain terms.

It can be attacked from anywhere on the internet with an administrator account, and nobody has to click anything. If it works, the attacker can take it offline.

The official description

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

What kind of flaw is it?

  • CWE-400Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
CVSS 3.1 scoreMedium · 4.4

How an attack on it works

Read straight from its severity rating, translated out of the shorthand.

  • Where an attacker can beAnywhere on the internet
  • How hard it is to pull offHard: conditions must line up
  • Login needed firstAn administrator account
  • Does someone have to clickNo, nobody has to do anything
  • What an attacker getsCan take it offline

Severity vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Exploitation

Is CVE-2023-5870 being exploited? Not that we know of.

It is not on the list of flaws known to be exploited today. The latest forecast puts the chance of it being used in the next 30 days at 2.6%. That can change at any time, which is why we keep watching.

Known to be exploitedNoNot on the list of exploited flaws today
Chance of use in the next 30 days2.6%Its EPSS score, from the latest forecast

Timeline

  1. Published
  2. Record last updated
How Precursor Intelligence ranks it
16out of 100Info

CVE-2023-5870 scores 16. Action: Track.

We keep the score of every published flaw up to date as the evidence changes. Four things go into the score, and evidence that criminals are actually using it counts most. In order:

  • Evidence it is being exploitedBiggest factor
  • How severe it isStrong factor
  • How widely exposed it isSmaller factor
  • Threat activity around itSmaller factor

85 and above is Critical. Anything confirmed as exploited is always marked for an emergency patch, whatever its score.

When CVE-2023-5870 matches software you track, it lands in your list with its score and the reasons behind it.

See your own ranked list →
Affected products

Who is affected by CVE-2023-5870? 16 products.

The published record lists 16 products from 2 vendors. Versions are shown as published: "11.0 to before 11.22" means from 11.0 up to, but not including, 11.22. If you run one of these, check your version, then go to the fix below.

Remediation

How do I fix CVE-2023-5870? Four steps.

  1. Check whether you run itCompare your versions with the affected products above. Not sure what you run? Precursor Intelligence can work it out from your public website, or you can pick it from a list.
  2. Apply the vendor’s fixInstall the update named in the vendor’s advisory. We’ve put the advisory first in the list.
  3. If you can’t patch todayFollow any mitigation the vendor publishes, and limit who can reach the affected system from the internet until the update is in.
  4. Keep an eye on itTrack the product and we tell you as soon as we spot this flaw on the list of exploited flaws, or a jump in its exploit likelihood.

References

27 links
Precursor Intelligence

Does CVE-2023-5870 affect you? We'll keep checking.

Looking flaws up one at a time doesn't scale. Tell us what you run once, and we tell you which flaws matter to you, in what order, and keep watching for new ones.

  1. Tell us what you runPick your software from a list, or let us work it out from your website.
  2. We match it to every flawOver 400,000 published flaws, checked against your list.
  3. Ranked by real-world riskA 0 to 100 score, led by evidence criminals are using it.
  4. Told as soon as we knowAn alert by email, in the app or by webhook to your own tools.
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CVE-2023-5870 is a medium-severity flaw in PostgreSQL, published on 10 December 2023. It can be attacked from anywhere on the internet with an administrator account, and nobody has to click anything. If it works, the attacker can take it offline.

It scores 4.4 out of 10 on the CVSS severity scale, which is medium. Our risk score for CVE-2023-5870 is 16 out of 100, which is Info. Its action is "Track". No sign of exploitation and a low forecast. Patch it in your normal update cycle.

It is not on the list of flaws known to be exploited today. The latest forecast puts the chance of it being used in the next 30 days at 2.6%. That can change at any time, which is why we keep watching.

For PostgreSQL: 11.0 to before 11.22, 12.0 to before 12.17, 13.0 to before 13.13, 14.0 to before 14.10, 15.0 to before 15.5, 16.0. The record lists 16 products in all, each with its versions, under "Who is affected" on this page.

Install the update the vendor names in its advisory, linked first under "How do I fix" on this page. If you can't patch today, follow the vendor's mitigation and limit who can reach the affected system from the internet.

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