CVE-2023-23406

Memory Safety in Microsoft Windows Server 2012 r2

Memory Safety

Published

14 March 2023

Modified

21 November 2024

Patch / advisory

View advisory

CVSS Score v3.1 8.8

Click a component to see what it means

Raw vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS Score 0.013 70th percentile

Risk Priority 74 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2023-23406 is a high-severity Heap-based Buffer Overflow (CWE-122) vulnerability in Microsoft Windows Server 2012. Its CVSS base score is 8.8 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Data Obfuscation (T1001); ranked in the top 30% 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.

The vulnerability CVE-2023-23406 is a remote code execution flaw affecting the Microsoft PostScript and PCL6 Class Printer Driver. It carries a CVSS 3.1 base score of 8.8 and is associated with CWE-122. The issue was published on 14 March 2023.

An attacker with low privileges can exploit the flaw over a network connection without user interaction, resulting in full impact to confidentiality, integrity, and availability on the affected system.

Microsoft's security update guide at msrc.microsoft.com provides remediation details and patches for the vulnerability. The EPSS score has remained flat at 0.1322 with no material increase after disclosure.

EU & UK References

🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2023-27506

Vulnerability Data

Microsoft PostScript and PCL6 Class Printer Driver Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

CWE(s): CWE-122 NVD-CWE-noinfo

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1001 Data Obfuscation Command And Control

Adversaries may obfuscate command and control traffic to make it more difficult to detect.

attack.mitre.org →

T1001.002 Steganography Command And Control

Adversaries may use steganographic techniques to hide command and control traffic to make detection efforts more difficult.

attack.mitre.org →

T1003.001 LSASS Memory Credential Access

Adversaries may attempt to access credential material stored in the process memory of the Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS).

attack.mitre.org →

T1003.004 LSA Secrets Credential Access

Adversaries with SYSTEM access to a host may attempt to access Local Security Authority (LSA) secrets, which can contain a variety of different credential materials, such as credentials for service accounts.

attack.mitre.org →

T1003.006 DCSync Credential Access

Adversaries may attempt to access credentials and other sensitive information by abusing a Windows Domain Controller's application programming interface (API)(Citation: Microsoft DRSR Dec 2017) (Citation: Microsoft GetNCCChanges) (Citati…

attack.mitre.org →

T1006 Direct Volume Access Stealth

Adversaries may directly access a volume to bypass file access controls and file system monitoring.

attack.mitre.org →

Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

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CVE-2023-24867Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507

CVE-2023-24928Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507

CVE-2023-24876Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507

CVE-2023-28269Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507

CVE-2023-24868Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507

CVE-2023-24943Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507

CVE-2023-28275Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507

Affected Assets

microsoft

windows 10 1507

≤ 10.0.10240.19805

microsoft

windows 10 1607

≤ 10.0.14393.5786

microsoft

windows 10 1809

≤ 10.0.17763.4131

microsoft

windows 10 20h2

≤ 10.0.19042.2728

microsoft

windows 10 21h2

≤ 10.0.19044.2728

microsoft

windows 10 22h2

≤ 10.0.19045.2728

microsoft

windows 11 21h2

≤ 10.0.22000.1696

microsoft

windows 11 22h2

≤ 10.0.22000.1413

microsoft

windows server 2012

all versions, r2

microsoft

windows server 2016

all versions

+2 more product configuration(s) — see NVD for full list

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)

V1.4.1

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.

ID.RA-01 partial match

blocks

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

PR.PS-02 partial match

blocks

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

PR.PS-06 partial match

blocks

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

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.5.14 Information transfer partial match

removes

A.5.15 Access control partial match

removes

A.5.16 Identity management partial match

removes

A.5.17 Authentication information partial match

removes

A.5.18 Access rights partial match

removes

A.8.10 Information deletion partial match

removes