Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-2005

Tenable Nessus

Published
26 June 2023
Modified
03 December 2024
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 6.3
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0038 31th percentile
Risk Priority 46 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-2005 is a medium-severity Uncontrolled Search Path Element (CWE-427) vulnerability in Tenable Nessus. Its CVSS base score is 6.3 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Path Interception (T1034); ranked at the 31th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A08:2025 Software or Data Integrity Failures

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Vulnerability in Tenable Tenable.Io, Tenable Nessus, Tenable Security Center.This issue affects Tenable.Io: before Plugin Feed ID #202306261202 ; Nessus: before Plugin Feed ID #202306261202 ; Security Center: before Plugin Feed ID #202306261202 . This vulnerability could allow a malicious actor…

more

with sufficient permissions on a scan target to place a binary in a specific filesystem location, and abuse the impacted plugin in order to escalate privileges.

CWE(s)
NVD-CWE-noinfoCWE-427

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1034 Path Interception Persistence
**This technique has been deprecated.
attack.mitre.org →
T1574.007 Path Interception by PATH Environment Variable Stealth
Adversaries may execute their own malicious payloads by hijacking environment variables used to load libraries.
attack.mitre.org →
T1574.008 Path Interception by Search Order Hijacking Stealth
Adversaries may execute their own malicious payloads by hijacking the search order used to load other programs.
attack.mitre.org →
T1574 Hijack Execution Flow Stealth
Adversaries may execute their own malicious payloads by hijacking the way operating systems run programs.
attack.mitre.org →
T1574.001 DLL Stealth
Adversaries may abuse dynamic-link library files (DLLs) in order to achieve persistence, escalate privileges, and evade defenses.
attack.mitre.org →
T1574.004 Dylib Hijacking Stealth
Adversaries may execute their own payloads by placing a malicious dynamic library (dylib) with an expected name in a path a victim application searches at runtime.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-3252Same product: Tenable Nessus
CVE-2023-0524Same product: Tenable Nessus
CVE-2023-6178Same product: Tenable Nessus
CVE-2024-0971Same product: Tenable Nessus
CVE-2023-3251Same product: Tenable Nessus
CVE-2023-0101Same product: Tenable Nessus
CVE-2026-57588Same product: Tenable Nessus
CVE-2023-3253Same product: Tenable Nessus
CVE-2026-57587Same product: Tenable Nessus
CVE-2024-0955Same product: Tenable Nessus

Affected Assets

tenable
nessus
all versions
tenable
securitycenter
all versions
tenable
tenable.io
all versions

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 2 hardening rules · 1 OS baseline
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

—

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.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure-development practices directly address design of search paths and resource loading.

PR.PS-01 partial match
prevents

Hardened configuration baselines can enforce safe search-path settings and reduce exposure.

PR.PS-05 partial match
prevents

Execution allow-listing can block malicious binaries placed in hijackable search locations.

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.

A.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
finds

Security testing can detect uncontrolled search-path issues but does not prevent them by itself.

A.8.19 Installation of software on operational systems partial match
mitigates

Restricting software installation reduces the chance that an attacker-controlled path element is introduced into the search path.

A.8.27 Secure system architecture and engineering principles partial match
mitigates

Secure system architecture and engineering principles require explicit control over search paths and resource locations.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure coding practices directly address the use of fixed or controlled search paths that can be influenced by unintended actors.

A.8.9 Configuration management partial match
prevents

Configuration management can enforce approved search-path settings but does not inherently prevent the weakness.

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).

Oracle Linux 8 (1 rule)
  • V-248577 OL 8 must enable kernel parameters to enforce Discretionary Access Control (DAC) on symlinks. prevents CWE-427

References