Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-0205

Nvidia Connectx Firmware ≤ 35.1012

Published
22 April 2023
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 5.0
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:L
EPSS Score 0.0052 41th percentile
Risk Priority 40 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-0205 is a medium-severity Insufficient Granularity of Access Control (CWE-1220) vulnerability in Nvidia Connectx Firmware. Its CVSS base score is 5.0 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Services File Permissions Weakness (T1574.010); ranked at the 41th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

NVIDIA ConnectX-5, ConnectX-6, and ConnectX6-DX contain a vulnerability in the NIC firmware, where an unprivileged user can exploit insufficient granularity of access control, which may lead to denial of service.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1574.010 Services File Permissions Weakness Stealth
Adversaries may execute their own malicious payloads by hijacking the binaries used by services.
T1078 Valid Accounts Stealth
Adversaries may obtain and abuse credentials of existing accounts as a means of gaining Initial Access, Persistence, Privilege Escalation, or Defense Evasion.
T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may circumvent mechanisms designed to control privilege elevation to gain higher-level permissions.
T1556 Modify Authentication Process Defense Impairment
Adversaries may modify authentication mechanisms and processes to access user credentials or enable otherwise unwarranted access to accounts.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-0203Same product: Nvidia Connectx-5
CVE-2023-0204Same product: Nvidia Connectx-5
CVE-2026-35436Shared CWE-1220
CVE-2023-31342Shared CWE-1220
CVE-2025-1278Shared CWE-1220
CVE-2025-54461Shared CWE-1220
CVE-2025-7493Shared CWE-1220
CVE-2023-3227Shared CWE-1220
CVE-2025-22839Shared CWE-1220
CVE-2026-38743Shared CWE-1220

Affected Assets

nvidia
connectx firmware
≤ 35.1012

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 4 hardening rules · 4 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V16.4.2
  • V8.4.2
  • V11.7.1
  • V13.2.4

Likely Mitigating Controls AI

Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.

addresses: CWE-1220

Use of granular security and privacy attributes enables finer access control than coarse permission models alone.

addresses: CWE-1220

Documenting interface characteristics enables more granular control over internal access.

addresses: CWE-1220

Requires the architecture to describe granularity and placement of controls, preventing insufficiently fine-grained access decisions.

addresses: CWE-1220

Provides the necessary granularity by placing system management functions outside the reach of user-level access controls.

addresses: CWE-1220

Isolation supplies an explicit, enforceable granularity boundary between security and non-security functions that coarser access-control schemes lack.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.IR-01 mostly match
prevents

PR.IR-01's segmentation + zero-trust rules directly enforce minimum-necessary access at network boundaries, removing most instances of overly broad policy; CWE-1220 can still exist in application-layer or intra-segment controls that this single outcome does not address.

PR.PS-06 partial match
prevents

PR.PS-06's general SDLC practices can surface granularity issues during design/review (partial prevention) but do not specifically target access-control policy breadth, so they remove only part of CWE-1220's risk.

DE.AE-06 none match
degrades

CWE-1220 permits unauthorized access to sensitive assets but neither prevents nor impairs the delivery of adverse-event information to authorized recipients.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

degrades

Directly requires information-access restriction at the level of individual assets and operations, addressing the granularity gap.

prevents

Establishes the overarching access-control policy whose granularity directly determines whether the weakness exists.

prevents

Defines the assignment and review of access rights; insufficient granularity in those rights is the root of CWE-1220.

prevents

Specifies management of privileged access rights, where overly broad privileges are a common manifestation of the weakness.

none

Limits use of privileged utilities; overly coarse access rules can still allow unauthorized utility access.

Hardening callouts derived

Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

Windows Server 2016 (1 rule)
  • V-225025 Local accounts with blank passwords must be restricted to prevent access from the network. prevents CWE-1220
Windows Server 2022 (1 rule)
  • V-254446 Windows Server 2022 must prevent local accounts with blank passwords from being used from the network. prevents CWE-1220

References