CVE-2023-28141

Qualys Cloud Agent 3.1.3.34 – 4.8.0.31

Published

18 April 2023

Modified

21 November 2024

Patch / advisory

View advisory

CVSS Score v3.1 6.7

Click a component to see what it means

Raw vector

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

EPSS Score 0.0018 7th percentile

Risk Priority 47 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-2023-28141 is a medium-severity Link Following (CWE-59) vulnerability in Qualys Cloud Agent. Its CVSS base score is 6.7 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Security Account Manager (T1003.002); ranked at the 7th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2023-31852

Vulnerability Data

An NTFS Junction condition exists in the Qualys Cloud Agent for Windows platform in versions before 4.8.0.31. Attackers may write files to arbitrary locations via a local attack vector. This allows attackers to assume the privileges of the process, and…

they may delete or otherwise on unauthorized files, allowing for the potential modification or deletion of sensitive files limited only to that specific directory/file object. This vulnerability is bounded to the time of installation/uninstallation and can only be exploited locally. At the time of this disclosure, versions before 4.0 are classified as End of Life.

CWE(s): CWE-59 NVD-CWE-noinfo

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1003.002 Security Account Manager Credential Access

Adversaries may attempt to extract credential material from the Security Account Manager (SAM) database either through in-memory techniques or through the Windows Registry where the SAM database is stored.

attack.mitre.org →

T1003.005 Cached Domain Credentials Credential Access

Adversaries may attempt to access cached domain credentials used to allow authentication to occur in the event a domain controller is unavailable.

attack.mitre.org →

T1011 Exfiltration Over Other Network Medium Exfiltration

Adversaries may attempt to exfiltrate data over a different network medium than the command and control channel.

attack.mitre.org →

T1016 System Network Configuration Discovery Discovery

Adversaries may look for details about the network configuration and settings, such as IP and/or MAC addresses, of systems they access or through information discovery of remote systems.

attack.mitre.org →

T1020 Automated Exfiltration Exfiltration

Adversaries may exfiltrate data, such as sensitive documents, through the use of automated processing after being gathered during Collection.

attack.mitre.org →

T1021.003 Distributed Component Object Model Lateral Movement

Adversaries may use [Valid Accounts](https://attack.

attack.mitre.org →

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

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-28140Same product: Qualys Cloud Agent

CVE-2023-28142Same product: Qualys Cloud Agent

CVE-2026-25906Shared CWE-59

CVE-2023-52338Shared CWE-59

CVE-2026-40931Shared CWE-59

CVE-2023-0652Shared CWE-59

CVE-2024-27458Shared CWE-59

CVE-2023-43590Shared CWE-59

CVE-2025-62363Shared CWE-59

CVE-2026-23879Shared CWE-59

Affected Assets

qualys

cloud agent

3.1.3.34 — 4.8.0.31

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.

PR.PS-06 partial match

blocks

Secure SDLC practices directly require code to validate paths and avoid unsafe link following.

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