CVE catalog

CVE-2023-36811

borgbackup: CVE-2023-36811

[CVE catalog]

Severity
Medium · CVSS 4.7CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
Published
Source
[NVD] · [CVE record]
EPSS
0.11% · Oct 25, 2026

borgbackup is an opensource, deduplicating archiver with compression and authenticated encryption. A flaw in the cryptographic authentication scheme in borgbackup allowed an attacker to fake archives and potentially indirectly cause backup data loss in the repository. The attack requires an attacker to be able to: 1. insert files (with no additional headers) into backups and 2. gain write access to the repository. This vulnerability does not disclose plaintext to the attacker, nor does it affect the authenticity of existing archives. Creating plausible fake archives may be feasible for empty or small archives, but is unlikely for large archives. The issue has been fixed in borgbackup 1.2.5. Users are advised to upgrade. Additionally to installing the fixed code, users must follow the upgrade procedure as documented in the change log. Data loss after being attacked can be avoided by reviewing the archives (timestamp and contents valid and as expected) after any "borg check --repair" and before "borg prune". There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.

Vulnerable and fixed packages

Distribution-reported package versions and fixes. These do not depend on matching against the OpenFactory package catalog.

DistributionPackageReleaseVersionStatus
Debianborgbackupsid1.4.5-1fixed
Debianborgbackupforky1.4.5-1fixed
Debianborgbackuptrixie1.4.0-5fixed
Debianborgbackupbookworm1.2.4-1vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup16.040.28.1-1vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup16.040.28.1-2vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup16.040.28.2-1vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup16.040.28.2-2vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup16.040.29.0-1vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup16.040.29.0-2vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup16.040.29.0-3vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup16.040.29.0-4vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup16.040.30.0-1vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup16.041.0.0~rc1-1vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup16.041.0.0~rc1-2vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup16.041.0.0~rc1-3vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup16.041.0.0~rc2-1vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup16.041.0.0~rc2-3vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup16.041.0.0-1vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup16.041.0.0-2vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup16.041.0.0-3vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup16.041.0.0-4vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup16.041.0.1-1vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup16.041.0.2-1vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup16.041.0.7-0ubuntu1.16.04.1vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup16.041.0.11-0ubuntu1.16.04.2vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup16.041.0.12-0ubuntu1.16.04.1vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup16.041.0.13-0ubuntu1.16.04.1vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup18.041.0.11-4vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup18.041.1.2-3vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup18.041.1.2-4vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup18.041.1.2-5vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup18.041.1.3-1build1vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup18.041.1.3-2vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup18.041.1.3-3vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup18.041.1.4-1vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup18.041.1.4-2vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup18.041.1.4-2build1vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup18.041.1.4-3vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup18.041.1.5-1~build1vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup18.041.1.5-1vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup18.041.1.15-1~ubuntu1.18.04.2vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup20.041.1.10-2vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup20.041.1.10-2build1vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup20.041.1.11-1~build1vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup20.041.1.11-1vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup20.041.1.11-2vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup20.041.1.11-5~build1vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup20.041.1.11-5vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup20.041.1.15-1~ubuntu1.20.04.1vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup22.041.1.17-1vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup22.041.1.17-1build1vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup22.041.2.0-1vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup22.041.2.0-1ubuntu1.22.04.1vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup24.041.2.6-2vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup24.041.2.7-1vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup24.041.2.7-2vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup24.041.2.7-2build1vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup24.041.2.7-2build2vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup24.041.2.7-2build3vulnerable
Ubuntuborgbackup24.041.2.8-1vulnerable

Fixed-version evidence

DistributionPackageTypeReleaseFixed versionUrgencyOriginBugs
Debianborgbackupsourcesid1.2.5-1not yet assignedNot reportedNot reported
Debianborgbackupsourceforky1.2.5-1not yet assignedNot reportedNot reported
Debianborgbackupsourcetrixie1.2.5-1not yet assignedNot reportedNot reported
Debianborgbackupsourcebookworm(unfixed)not yet assignedNot reportedNot reported

Notes

[bookworm] borgbackup: Minor issue

OpenFactory catalog packages

Matching against OpenFactory catalog package versions is in progress.

References