CVE-2023-22960
Lexmark B2236 Firmware ≤ mslsg.081.233
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:NCVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.
Summary
CVE-2023-22960 is a high-severity Improper Restriction of Excessive Authentication Attempts (CWE-307) vulnerability in Lexmark B2236 Firmware. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Password Guessing (T1110.001); ranked in the top 2% 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.
Lexmark products through 2023-01-10 are affected by an improper control of interaction frequency vulnerability, identified as CVE-2023-22960 and linked to CWE-307 and CWE-284. The flaw received a CVSS 3.1 score of 7.5 reflecting network attack vector, low complexity, no required privileges or user interaction, and high confidentiality impact with no effects on integrity or availability.
An unauthenticated remote attacker can exploit the weakness to obtain sensitive information by issuing excessive interactions that bypass intended controls.
Lexmark published an advisory describing the issue at https://publications.lexmark.com/publications/security-alerts/CVE-2023-22960.pdf. The associated EPSS score rose materially from a low baseline to a peak of 0.6541 before receding to the current value of 0.3552, indicating post-disclosure exploitation interest.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2023-27061
Vulnerability Data
Lexmark products through 2023-01-10 have Improper Control of Interaction Frequency.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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- 2 hardening rules · 1 OS baseline
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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.
The access control policy and procedures directly mandate and enforce proper access control mechanisms across the organization.
Device lock enforces restricted access until re-authentication, directly reducing unauthorized use of active sessions.
Supervision and review of access control activities directly detects and remediates improper access configurations or usages.
Explicitly identifying and documenting actions permitted without identification or authentication enforces proper access control boundaries by defining justified exceptions.
By automatically labeling outputs with security attributes, the control supports attribute-based enforcement and reduces exploitability of improper access control weaknesses.
Associating and retaining security attributes with data directly supports enforcement of access control decisions across storage, processing, and transmission.
Requiring prior authorization for each remote access type prevents improper access control over remote connections.
Requiring authorization of wireless access before allowing connections enforces proper access control for this access method.
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.
Behavioral monitoring of authentication activity can detect excessive failed attempts after they occur.
Authentication enforcement directly includes lockout, throttling, and MFA policies that prevent brute-force attempts.
Generating auth logs enables later detection or forensics but does not itself restrict attempts.
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.5.1 only requires that an information security policy and topic-specific policies (including on access control) exist and are reviewed; it does not itself enforce, implement or act on any access restriction, so the weakness can still be exploited (per the owner's explicit rule that governance/dependency clauses score none on effect verbs).
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` (higher-evidence rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).
RHEL 7 (2 rules)
- V-204427 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must be configured to lock accounts for a minimum of 15 minutes after three unsuccessful logon attempts within a 15-minute timeframe. blocks CWE-307
- V-204428 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must lock the associated account after three unsuccessful root logon attempts are made within a 15-minute period. blocks CWE-307