`CVE-2023-25157` GeoServer

Affected software	GeoServer
Severity	9.8 Critical CVSS 3.1 2 scores
Fixed in	`2.21.4`, `2.22.2`
Weakness	SQL injection (CWE-89)
Published	21 Feb 2023
Updated	3 Nov 2026

Description

GeoServer is an open source software server written in Java that allows users to share and edit geospatial data. GeoServer includes support for the OGC Filter expression language and the OGC Common Query Language (CQL) as part of the Web Feature Service (WFS) and Web Map Service (WMS) protocols. CQL is also supported through the Web Coverage Service (WCS) protocol for ImageMosaic coverages. Users are advised to upgrade to either version 2.21.4, or version 2.22.2 to resolve this issue. Users unable to upgrade should disable the PostGIS Datastore *encode functions* setting to mitigate `strEndsWith, strStartsWith and PropertyIsLike misuse and enable the PostGIS DataStore *preparedStatements* setting to mitigate the FeatureId` misuse.

Exploitation status

Exploited

Real-world exploitation reported by VulnCheck KEV. CISA has not confirmed it.

CISA KEV not listed
VulnCheck KEV listed Exploitation reported in the wild. 7 citations · honeypot sightings · 12 exploits · earliest 2020-09-22.
CISA Vulnrichment exploitation: none
Indexed PoC 8 indexed Published artifacts you can open, in GitHub PoC, Nuclei; first seen 2023-06-06.
EPSS 86% chance in 30 days A model's forecast, not a report of exploitation. Higher than 99.7% of all scored CVEs.

VulnCheck KEV

Exploitation evidence from VulnCheck Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (VulnCheck KEV), used under VulnCheck's community terms. View CVE-2023-25157 in VulnCheck (free account), which lists 2 more citations and 7 more exploit references not shown here.

Evidence	Source	Detail	Date
Honeypot sighting	SANS DShield sensors	Exploitation attempts seen on 1 day	2020-09-22
Reported exploitation	thedfirreport.com	/2023/12/18/lets-opendir-some-presents-an-analysis-of-a-persistent-actors-activity	2023-12-18
Reported exploitation	rt-solar.ru	/solar-4rays/blog/4333	2024-05-24
Reported exploitation	rt-solar.ru	/solar-4rays/blog/4527	2024-07-18
Reported exploitation	f5.com	/labs/articles/threat-intelligence/sensor-intel-series-top-cves-august-2024	2024-09-19
Reported exploitation	f5.com	/labs/articles/threat-intelligence/botpoke-scanner-switches-ip	2024-11-25
Exploit reference	VulnCheck XDB 281183e04222	Exploit type: infoleak	2023-06-06
Exploit reference	VulnCheck XDB 94494148cb01	Exploit type: infoleak	2023-06-10
Exploit reference	VulnCheck XDB 9cf6c74ddc0a	Exploit type: initial-access	2023-06-11
Exploit reference	VulnCheck XDB b785e145c5f6	Exploit type: initial-access	2023-06-12
Exploit reference	VulnCheck XDB 44aac331bc8b	Exploit type: infoleak	2023-11-28

Evidence

Source

Detail

Date

Honeypot sighting

SANS DShield sensors

Exploitation attempts seen on 1 day

2020-09-22

Reported exploitation

thedfirreport.com

/2023/12/18/lets-opendir-some-presents-an-analysis-of-a-persistent-actors-activity

2023-12-18

Reported exploitation

rt-solar.ru

/solar-4rays/blog/4333

2024-05-24

Reported exploitation

rt-solar.ru

/solar-4rays/blog/4527

2024-07-18

Reported exploitation

f5.com

/labs/articles/threat-intelligence/sensor-intel-series-top-cves-august-2024

2024-09-19

Reported exploitation

f5.com

/labs/articles/threat-intelligence/botpoke-scanner-switches-ip

2024-11-25

Exploit reference

VulnCheck XDB 281183e04222

Exploit type: infoleak

2023-06-06

Exploit reference

VulnCheck XDB 94494148cb01

Exploit type: infoleak

2023-06-10

Exploit reference

VulnCheck XDB 9cf6c74ddc0a

Exploit type: initial-access

2023-06-11

Exploit reference

VulnCheck XDB b785e145c5f6

Exploit type: initial-access

2023-06-12

Exploit reference

VulnCheck XDB 44aac331bc8b

Exploit type: infoleak

2023-11-28

4 of these are GitHub repositories with fewer than 5 stars. They are listed for reference and don't count toward the exploitation status above.

Index	Artifact	Stars	First seen
GitHub PoC	CVE-2023-25157 - GeoServer SQL Injection - PoC	166	2023-06-06
GitHub PoC	GeoServer & GeoTools SQL Injection (CVE-2023-25157 & CVE-2023-25158)	13	2023-06-11
GitHub PoC	0x2458bughunt/CVE-2023-25157	10	2023-06-10
GitHub PoC	CVE-2023-25157 exp	3	2025-04-24
GitHub PoC	A script, written in golang. POC for CVE-2023-25157	3	2023-06-12
GitHub PoC	Geoserver SQL Injection Exploit	2	2023-11-28
GitHub PoC	GeoServer OGC Filter SQL Injection Vulnerabilities		2023-07-31
Nuclei	GeoServer OGC Filter - SQL Injection

Waratek protection

Mitigation candidate

A kind of vulnerability Waratek's rules address, with exploit code published or exploitation reported. No rule exists and none is planned yet. The decision below says what we found to build a rule from.

Protection none
Action feasible
Review human Researcher
Record active

Decided by	A researcher's recorded decision for this specific CVE
Finding	A researcher set this CVE's status to Mitigation candidate.

Decided by

A researcher's recorded decision for this specific CVE

Finding

A researcher set this CVE's status to Mitigation candidate.

Waratek research note

written 2026-11-13

Written by a Waratek engineer who reviewed this CVE. Their decision sets the status above, ahead of every automated rule except a withdrawal.

Comments

SQL injection in GeoServer's PostGIS datastore through the strStartsWith, strEndsWith, PropertyIsLike and FeatureId filters, reachable unauthenticated through the CQL_FILTER parameter. The SQL rule does not currently detect this injection.

CVSS

9.8 CRITICAL v3.1 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H 2 metrics

We show the highest score from the newest CVSS version. Scores from different versions can't be compared, and the first score listed is sometimes a 0.0 placeholder.

Version Score Band Vector Assigner Type

CVSS 3.1 9.8 CRITICAL CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H security-advisories@github.com Secondary published

CVSS 3.1 9.8 CRITICAL CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H NVD Primary

Version	Score	Band	Vector	Assigner	Type
CVSS 3.1	9.8	CRITICAL	`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`	security-advisories@github.com	Secondary	published
CVSS 3.1	9.8	CRITICAL	`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`	NVD	Primary

Affected software and releases

Maven packages

Affected and fixed versions, from OSV.dev

Package Introduced Fixed Last affected

org.geoserver.community:gs-jdbcconfig 0 2.21.4 unbounded

org.geoserver.community:gs-jdbcconfig 2.22.0 2.22.2 unbounded

Package	Introduced	Fixed	Last affected
`org.geoserver.community:gs-jdbcconfig`	0	`2.21.4`	unbounded
`org.geoserver.community:gs-jdbcconfig`	2.22.0	`2.22.2`	unbounded

Products and versions

2 products, 7 version entries

Source	Vendor	Product	Scheme	Affected versions
osv	org.geoserver.community	gs-jdbcconfig	generic	＜ 2.21.4 · ≥ 2.22.0 and ＜ 2.22.2
nvd	osgeo	geoserver	generic	＜ 2.18.7 · ≥ 2.19.0 and ＜ 2.19.7 · ≥ 2.20.0 and ＜ 2.20.7 · ≥ 2.21.0 and ＜ 2.21.4 · ≥ 2.22.0 and ＜ 2.22.2

Source

Vendor

Product

Scheme

Affected versions

osv

org.geoserver.community

gs-jdbcconfig

generic

＜ 2.21.4 · ≥ 2.22.0 and ＜ 2.22.2

nvd

osgeo

geoserver

generic

＜ 2.18.7 · ≥ 2.19.0 and ＜ 2.19.7 · ≥ 2.20.0 and ＜ 2.20.7 · ≥ 2.21.0 and ＜ 2.21.4 · ≥ 2.22.0 and ＜ 2.22.2

References

URL	Tags
https://github.com/geoserver/geoserver/security/advisories/GHSA-7g5f-wrx8-5ccf	WEB
https://github.com/geoserver/geoserver/commit/145a8af798590288d270b240235e89c8f0b62e1d	WEB
https://github.com/geoserver/geoserver	PACKAGE

URL

Timeline

VulnCheck KEV: earliest evidence	2020-09-22	Date of the oldest evidence of exploitation in VulnCheck KEV's record. VulnCheck does not publish the date it listed the CVE.
Published	2023-02-21	By the CVE Program.
NVD record modified	2026-06-17	NVD's own last-modified date for this record.
VulnCheck KEV: latest evidence	2026-09-11	Date of the newest report, exploit reference or honeypot sighting in VulnCheck KEV's record.
Last VRT activity	2026-11-03	Most recent commit touching this CVE's classification, patch or rule file.
Classification created	2026-11-13	First commit adding this CVE's research note.

VulnCheck KEV: earliest evidence

2020-09-22

Date of the oldest evidence of exploitation in VulnCheck KEV's record. VulnCheck does not publish the date it listed the CVE.

Published

2023-02-21

By the CVE Program.

NVD record modified

2026-06-17

NVD's own last-modified date for this record.

VulnCheck KEV: latest evidence

2026-09-11

Date of the newest report, exploit reference or honeypot sighting in VulnCheck KEV's record.

Last VRT activity

2026-11-03

Most recent commit touching this CVE's classification, patch or rule file.

Classification created

2026-11-13

First commit adding this CVE's research note.

How VRT decided (4 of 24 rules ran)

4 of 24 rules ran. The rest didn't run because an earlier rule had already settled the CVE.

# Rule Outcome Status Detail

identity: Does this identifier describe a vulnerability at all? the first rule that matches decides

1 rejected no match CVE Program withdrawal of this identifier

scope: Is it a vulnerability Waratek protects? the first rule that matches decides

2 armr-patch-file no match An ARMR patch file on disk for this CVE

3 armr-secure-rule-file no match An ARMR security-rule template on disk for this CVE

4 manual-classification decided it matched Mitigation candidate A researcher set this CVE's status to Mitigation candidate.

5 manual classification not reached Manual classification of this CVE in the legacy dataset

6 non-java-upstream not reached A root cause in non-Java code: an OS kernel, a C library, or a bundled runtime

7 oracle-component not reached The defect being in a component of a tracked product the agent does not reach: JavaFX, the Java SE installer, the JInitiator browser plug-in, the native WebLogic proxy plug-in, or a native part of Oracle Application Server or Collaboration Suite (HTTP Server, Web Cache, Internet Directory, mail and calendar servers). Oracle gives these no CPE of their own and names them only in the description.

8 java-client-side not reached Oracle's own risk-matrix note saying the CVE is reached only through untrusted code in the Java sandbox (applets, Web Start) or only through a client installation of Java, so a server running its own trusted code is not exposed

9 osv-maven not reached An OSV.dev record of this CVE affecting a package published to Maven Central. When every such package is one business applications do not use (Minecraft mods and launchers, Fastjson) and no tracked product is named by CPE, it settles the CVE as Outside Waratek scope instead

10 cna-maven-package not reached An affected Maven artifact named by the CNA itself

11 known-cpe-product not reached An NVD CPE naming a product ARMR tracks

12 cna-cpe-product not reached A CPE the CNA published naming a tracked product. Oracle publishes these on advisory day, months before NVD.

13 oracle-advisory-family not reached A tracked product family named in Oracle's own risk matrix. CPE cannot carry a suite name, only a module.

14 cna-named-product not reached A tracked product named in words by the CVE's own CNA, on a record with no CPE yet. Apache and Eclipse publish these on advisory day, before NVD adds CPE data.

15 non-deployable-product not reached The only affected product being a sealed appliance image, where Java runs but no -javaagent can be attached

16 unmatched-product not reached No tracked product matched above, and none present at all

disposition: What do we do about one that is? every rule runs

17 patch-hint not reached A reference pointing at the upstream fix: a commit, a PR, a Red Hat bug

18 open-source-maven not reached The affected package being open source on Maven, so the fix can be read

19 poc-derivable not reached An indexed exploit clearing the evidence bar to reverse-engineer, where there is no source to read

20 no-exploit not reached Nothing to build a rule from yet: no published exploit, no CISA record of exploitation and no source-level change to read

21 secure-rule-match not reached A vulnerability class already blocked by an ARMR security rule

22 exploited-no-fix-or-poc not reached Somebody exploiting this CVE (a CISA or VulnCheck KEV listing, or a CISA verdict of active exploitation), with no fix, source code or PoC to build a rule from

23 below-action-threshold not reached Medium or Low severity, no CISA or VulnCheck KEV listing, no PoC clearing the evidence bar, no CISA verdict, no Oracle advisory

24 no-exploit-published not reached Exploit code for this candidate, published in a reviewed catalogue or a GitHub repository with 5 or more stars, or in use per CISA or VulnCheck; not only a CISA verdict, a forecast, or nothing at all

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