Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-21406

Memory Safety in Axis A1001 Firmware ≤ 1.65.4

Published
25 July 2023
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.1
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0031 23th percentile
Risk Priority 52 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-21406 is a high-severity Heap-based Buffer Overflow (CWE-122) vulnerability in Axis A1001 Firmware. Its CVSS base score is 7.1 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 23th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Ariel Harush and Roy Hodir from OTORIO have found a flaw in the AXIS A1001 when communicating over OSDP. A heap-based buffer overflow was found in the pacsiod process which is handling the OSDP communication allowing to write outside of…

more

the allocated buffer. By appending invalid data to an OSDP message it was possible to write data beyond the heap allocated buffer. The data written outside the buffer could be used to execute arbitrary code. lease refer to the Axis security advisory for more information, mitigation and affected products and software versions.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
T1211 Exploitation for Stealth Stealth
Adversaries may exploit vulnerabilities to evade detection by hiding activity, suppressing logging, or operating within trusted or unmonitored components.
T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access Credential Access
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to collect credentials.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-48704Shared CWE-120, CWE-122
CVE-2024-8198Shared CWE-120, CWE-122
CVE-2023-46256Shared CWE-120, CWE-122
CVE-2026-30979Shared CWE-120, CWE-122
CVE-2023-41273Shared CWE-120, CWE-122
CVE-2023-50246Shared CWE-120, CWE-122
CVE-2024-30259Shared CWE-120, CWE-122
CVE-2024-7534Shared CWE-120, CWE-122
CVE-2026-4153Shared CWE-120, CWE-122
CVE-2026-0797Shared CWE-120, CWE-122

Affected Assets

axis
a1001 firmware
≤ 1.65.4

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V5.2.1
  • V1.4.1

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-120

Platform-independent managed code eliminates the need for unchecked native buffer copies that are the root cause of classic buffer overflows.

addresses: CWE-787

Out-of-bounds writes that corrupt control flow or inject shellcode are rendered non-executable by the same memory protections.

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 full match
prevents

Secure-development practices directly require bounds checking and safe memory handling that prevent heap overflows.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability scanning and recording can discover heap-overflow flaws but does not prevent their introduction in code.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Timely patching removes known heap-overflow instances after they exist.

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.

prevents

Secure coding directly requires bounds-checked memory operations, addressing the root cause of CWE-120.

finds

Security testing in development and acceptance can detect heap overflows before release.

prevents

Secure development lifecycle mandates practices that reduce the likelihood of introducing heap overflows.

prevents

Application security requirements can specify bounds-checking and safe memory APIs that mitigate heap overflows.

prevents

Secure architecture and engineering principles include memory-safety and input-validation controls that address heap overflows.

prevents

Change management can enforce review gates that catch unsafe memory operations before deployment.

References