Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:HSummary
CVE-2023-21701 is a high-severity Buffer Over-read (CWE-126) vulnerability in Microsoft Windows Server 2008. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique OS Credential Dumping (T1003); ranked in the top 26% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary
Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.
Microsoft Protected Extensible Authentication Protocol (PEAP) contains a denial-of-service vulnerability tracked as CVE-2023-21701. The flaw is present in the PEAP implementation used for network authentication and carries a CVSS 3.1 score of 7.5, reflecting a network-accessible vector with low attack complexity and no required credentials or user interaction. The associated weakness identifiers include CWE-126.
An unauthenticated remote attacker can send specially crafted network traffic to a vulnerable PEAP endpoint, resulting in a high-impact denial of service that disrupts availability while leaving confidentiality and integrity unaffected.
Microsoft has published an advisory at https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2023-21701 that addresses the issue. The current EPSS score of 0.0626 with a recorded peak of 0.0695 indicates only modest exploitation interest since disclosure.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2023-25868
Vulnerability Data
Microsoft Protected Extensible Authentication Protocol (PEAP) Denial of Service Vulnerability
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
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.
Secure development practices directly prevent introduction of buffer over-read weaknesses.
Vulnerability identification processes can discover buffer over-read flaws via scanning or review.
Patching or replacing vulnerable software removes known instances of buffer over-read bugs.
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.
Security testing in development can detect buffer over-reads before release.
Secure SDLC mandates input validation and bounds checking that can prevent buffer over-reads.
Application security requirements can specify buffer-size and bounds-checking rules.
Secure architecture principles include memory-safety and bounds-checking design choices.
Secure coding standards directly require bounds-checked buffer access, mitigating over-reads.