CVE-2023-5870
Publication date 15 November 2023
Last updated 19 August 2025
Ubuntu priority
Cvss 3 Severity Score
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.
Status
| Package | Ubuntu Release | Status | 
|---|---|---|
| postgresql-14 | 25.10 questing | Not in release | 
| 25.04 plucky | Not in release | |
| 24.04 LTS noble | Not in release | |
| 22.04 LTS jammy | 
                              
                               
                                Fixed 14.10-0ubuntu0.22.04.1 
                                
                               
                             |      
                          
                            
                          
                        
                      |
| 20.04 LTS focal | Not in release | |
| 18.04 LTS bionic | Not in release | |
| 16.04 LTS xenial | Not in release | |
| 14.04 LTS trusty | Not in release | |
| postgresql-12 | 25.10 questing | Not in release | 
| 25.04 plucky | Not in release | |
| 24.04 LTS noble | Not in release | |
| 22.04 LTS jammy | Not in release | |
| 20.04 LTS focal | 
                              
                               
                                Fixed 12.17-0ubuntu0.20.04.1 
                                
                               
                             |      
                          
                            
                          
                        
                      |
| 18.04 LTS bionic | Not in release | |
| 16.04 LTS xenial | Not in release | |
| 14.04 LTS trusty | Ignored end of standard support | |
| postgresql-10 | 25.10 questing | Not in release | 
| 25.04 plucky | Not in release | |
| 24.04 LTS noble | Not in release | |
| 22.04 LTS jammy | Not in release | |
| 20.04 LTS focal | Not in release | |
| 18.04 LTS bionic | 
                              
                               
                                Fixed 10.23-0ubuntu0.18.04.2+esm1 
                                
                                   
                             |      
                          
                            
                          
                        
                      |
| 16.04 LTS xenial | Not in release | |
| 14.04 LTS trusty | Not in release | |
| postgresql-9.5 | 25.10 questing | Not in release | 
| 25.04 plucky | Not in release | |
| 24.04 LTS noble | Not in release | |
| 22.04 LTS jammy | Not in release | |
| 20.04 LTS focal | Not in release | |
| 18.04 LTS bionic | Not in release | |
| 16.04 LTS xenial | 
                              
                               
                                Fixed 9.5.25-0ubuntu0.16.04.1+esm6 
                                
                                   
                             |      
                          
                            
                          
                        
                      |
| 14.04 LTS trusty | Not in release | |
| postgresql-9.3 | 25.10 questing | Not in release | 
| 25.04 plucky | Not in release | |
| 24.04 LTS noble | Not in release | |
| 22.04 LTS jammy | Not in release | |
| 20.04 LTS focal | Not in release | |
| 18.04 LTS bionic | Not in release | |
| 16.04 LTS xenial | Not in release | |
| 14.04 LTS trusty | 
                              
                               
                                Vulnerable, fix deferred 
                                
                               
                             |      
                          
                            
                          
                        
                      |
| postgresql-9.1 | 25.10 questing | Not in release | 
| 25.04 plucky | Not in release | |
| 24.04 LTS noble | Not in release | |
| 22.04 LTS jammy | Not in release | |
| 20.04 LTS focal | Not in release | |
| 18.04 LTS bionic | Not in release | |
| 16.04 LTS xenial | Not in release | |
| 14.04 LTS trusty | Ignored end of standard support | |
| postgresql-15 | 25.10 questing | Not in release | 
| 25.04 plucky | Not in release | |
| 24.04 LTS noble | Not in release | |
| 22.04 LTS jammy | Not in release | |
| 20.04 LTS focal | Not in release | |
| 18.04 LTS bionic | Not in release | |
| 16.04 LTS xenial | Not in release | |
| 14.04 LTS trusty | Not in release | |
| postgresql-16 | 25.10 questing | Not in release | 
| 25.04 plucky | Not in release | |
| 24.04 LTS noble | 
                              
                               
                                Not affected 
                                
                               
                             |      
                          
                            
                          
                        
                      |
| 22.04 LTS jammy | Not in release | |
| 20.04 LTS focal | Not in release | |
| 18.04 LTS bionic | Not in release | |
| 16.04 LTS xenial | Not in release | |
| 14.04 LTS trusty | Not in release | 
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leosilva
PostgreSQL 9.3 is end of life upstream, and no updates are are available. Marking as deferred in -esm-main releases.
Severity score breakdown
| Parameter | Value | 
|---|---|
| Base score | 
                      
                      
                         | 
                  
| Attack vector | Network | 
| Attack complexity | High | 
| Privileges required | High | 
| User interaction | None | 
| Scope | Unchanged | 
| Confidentiality | None | 
| Integrity impact | None | 
| Availability impact | Low | 
| Vector | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L | 
References
Related Ubuntu Security Notices (USN)
- USN-6538-1
 - PostgreSQL vulnerabilities
 - 6 December 2023
 - USN-6570-1
 - PostgreSQL vulnerabilities
 - 9 January 2024
 - USN-6538-2
 - PostgreSQL vulnerabilities
 - 17 January 2024
 
Other references
- https://www.postgresql.org/support/security/CVE-2023-5870/
 - https://www.postgresql.org/about/news/postgresql-161-155-1410-1313-1217-and-1122-released-2749/
 - https://git.postgresql.org/gitweb/?p=postgresql.git;a=commit;h=e082734c8e78e6622a0422e612a870278721e83f (v11)
 - https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-5870