CVE-2023-23918

Description

From CVE.org

A privilege escalation vulnerability exists in Node.js <19.6.1, <18.14.1, <16.19.1 and <14.21.3 that made it possible to bypass the experimental Permissions (https://nodejs.org/api/permissions.html) feature in Node.js and access non authorized modules by using process.mainModule.require(). This only affects users who had enabled the experimental permissions option with --experimental-policy.

Statement

The vulnerability in question can only be triggered by an attacker if the victim has enabled --experimental-policy which in many node.js deployments won't ,which marks the conditions for exploitability outside of the attacker's control.

Mitigation

Turn off the --experimental-policy in your Node.js deployment.

Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details

Info alert:Important note

CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).

CVSS v3 Score Breakdown

Red HatNVDcve.org
Base Score7.57.57.5
Attack VectorNetworkNetworkNetwork
Attack ComplexityLowLowLow
Privileges RequiredNoneNoneNone
User InteractionNoneNoneNone
ScopeUnchangedUnchangedUnchanged
ConfidentialityHighHighHigh
Integrity ImpactNoneNoneNone
Availability ImpactNoneNoneNone

Vector

Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

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

cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Understanding the Weakness (CWE)

Confidentiality

Technical Impact: Read Application Data; Read Files or Directories

An attacker could bypass intended access restrictions to read sensitive data, either by reading the data directly from a data store that is not correctly restricted, or by accessing insufficiently-protected, privileged functionality to read the data.

Integrity

Technical Impact: Modify Application Data; Modify Files or Directories

An attacker could bypass intended access restrictions to modify sensitive data, either by writing the data directly to a data store that is not correctly restricted, or by accessing insufficiently-protected, privileged functionality to write the data.

Access Control

Technical Impact: Gain Privileges or Assume Identity; Bypass Protection Mechanism

An attacker could bypass intended access restrictions to gain privileges by modifying or reading critical data directly, or by accessing privileged functionality.

Confidentiality,Integrity,Availability

Technical Impact: Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands

An attacker could use elevated privileges to execute unauthorized commands or code.

Availability

Technical Impact: DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart; DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU); DoS: Resource Consumption (Memory); DoS: Resource Consumption (Other)

An attacker could gain unauthorized access to resources on the system and excessively consume those resources, leading to a denial of service.

Frequently Asked Questions

Want to get errata notifications? Sign up here.