CVE-2023-38146

HIGHNVD 8.88.8
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence

Score 8.8 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: HIGH) published 2023-09-12. NVD baseline CVSS 8.8; sources differ by 0.0.

Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: epss, ghsa, nvd
Weaponized
8.8
EchelonGraph verdictPlan a fixSerious severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet.
  • High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS: 39%CVSS: 8.8Exploit: NoneExposed: 0

No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.

Windows Themes Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

CVSS v3
8.8
EG Score
8.8(medium)
EG Risk
70(Track)
EG Risk 70/100SSVC: Track

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).

How it’s computed
Severity88% × 45%
Exploitation65% × 40%
Automatability30% × 15%
Action: Routine — remediate on your standard cadence.
EPSS
98.5%
KEV
Not listed

Published

September 12, 2023

Last Modified

January 1, 2025

Weakness Classification(1)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

All Vendor Advisories

(1)

Every vendor that published an advisory referencing this CVE — pulled from our cve_vendor_advisories aggregation. Click any row for the vendor's original advisory page.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 13× in last 7d / 36× in last 30d)

Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.

  1. 2026-07-23 14:16 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-07-23 14:16 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-07-23 02:25 UTCEG score recompute
  4. 2026-07-22 23:11 UTCEG score recompute 0.20
  5. 2026-07-22 14:06 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-07-21 15:23 UTCEPSS rescore
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  21. 2026-07-11 08:26 UTCEPSS rescore
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  23. 2026-07-09 19:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-07-09 19:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-07-08 15:13 UTCEPSS rescore
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  1. 2026-07-04 06:29 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-07-02 16:59 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-07-01 15:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-06-28 14:06 UTCEPSS rescore
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  6. 2026-06-28 04:55 UTCEPSS rescore
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  8. 2026-06-25 13:48 UTCEPSS rescore
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  10. 2026-06-23 21:31 UTCEPSS rescore
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  14. 2026-06-21 01:58 UTCEPSS rescore
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  16. 2026-06-18 17:51 UTCEPSS rescore
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  20. 2026-06-16 17:51 UTCEPSS rescore
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  22. 2026-06-15 17:47 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-06-13 22:59 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-06-13 22:59 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-06-12 23:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  26. 2026-06-12 23:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  27. 2026-06-10 22:17 UTCEPSS rescore
  28. 2026-06-06 13:46 UTCEPSS rescore
  29. 2026-06-06 13:46 UTCEPSS rescore
  30. 2026-06-05 22:46 UTCEPSS rescore
  31. 2026-06-05 22:46 UTCEPSS rescore
  32. 2026-06-04 13:11 UTCEPSS rescore
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  34. 2026-06-01 13:51 UTCEPSS rescore
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  36. 2026-05-31 22:30 UTCEPSS rescore
  37. 2026-05-31 22:29 UTCEPSS rescore
  38. 2026-05-31 22:29 UTCEPSS rescore
  39. 2026-05-31 00:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  40. 2026-05-31 00:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  41. 2026-05-29 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  42. 2026-05-29 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  43. 2026-05-28 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  44. 2026-05-28 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  45. 2026-05-27 13:39 UTCEPSS rescore
  46. 2026-05-26 07:18 UTCEPSS rescore
  47. 2026-05-26 07:18 UTCEPSS rescore
  48. 2026-05-26 07:18 UTCEPSS rescore
  49. 2026-05-24 17:41 UTCEG score recompute
  50. 2026-05-24 17:41 UTCVendor advisory
  51. 2026-05-24 17:41 UTCGHSA enrichment

Publicly available exploits

(4 references)

Working exploit code is in the public domain (1 Metasploit module) (3 GitHub PoCs). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly — public PoCs typically lead to mass-exploitation within 24-72 hours.

  • GitHub PoCDurge5/ThemeBleedPy
    First seen Dec 12, 2023

    A proof of concept using python for the CVE-2023-38146 "ThemeBleed"

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCJnnshschl/CVE-2023-38146
    First seen Oct 13, 2023

    PoC for the ThemeBleed Windows 11 CVE-2023-38146 written in python using impacket. https://jnns.de/posts/cve-2023-38146-poc/

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCexploits-forsale/themebleed
    First seen Sep 13, 2023

    Proof-of-Concept for CVE-2023-38146 ("ThemeBleed")

    Open source ↗
  • Metasploitexploit/windows/fileformat/theme_dll_hijack_cve_2023_38146✓ verified
    First seen Sep 13, 2023

    Themebleed- Windows 11 Themes Arbitrary Code Execution CVE-2023-38146

    Open source ↗

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2023-38146?
CVE-2023-38146 is a high vulnerability published on September 12, 2023. Windows Themes Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
When was CVE-2023-38146 disclosed?
CVE-2023-38146 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on September 12, 2023, with the most recent update on January 1, 2025. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2023-38146 actively exploited?
CVE-2023-38146 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 98.5% percentile likelihood of exploitation in the next 30 days — higher percentiles indicate greater predicted risk.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2023-38146?
CVE-2023-38146 has a CVSS v3 base score of 8.8 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2023-38146?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2023-38146, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

Dependency Blast Radius

Explore the affected products and dependency analysis for CVE-2023-38146

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