Security Resilience

CVE-2023-32174

Memory Safety in Unified-Automation Uagateway ≤ 1.5.14.495

Memory Safety
Published
03 May 2024
Modified
08 August 2025
CVSS Score v3 9.1
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.019 79th percentile
Risk Priority 66 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-2023-32174 is a critical-severity Use After Free (CWE-416) vulnerability in Unified-Automation Uagateway. Its CVSS base score is 9.1 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique OS Credential Dumping (T1003); ranked in the top 21% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SA-8 (Security and Privacy Engineering Principles) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

CVE-2023-32174 is a use-after-free vulnerability, tracked as ZDI-CAN-20577 and assigned CWE-416, that affects the NodeManagerOpcUa component in Unified Automation UaGateway. The flaw stems from insufficient validation of object existence before operations are performed, enabling remote code execution with SYSTEM-level privileges on affected installations. It carries a CVSS 3.0 score of 9.1.

Remote attackers who can authenticate to the product in its default configuration may exploit the issue over the network to execute arbitrary code. The vulnerability permits an attacker to achieve full control in the context of the SYSTEM account without requiring user interaction.

Vendor documentation in the UaGateway 1.5.14 changelog and the Zero Day Initiative advisory ZDI-23-780 address the issue and point to available updates. The EPSS score has remained low, with a current value of 0.0517 and a recorded peak of 0.0677.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Unified Automation UaGateway NodeManagerOpcUa Use-After-Free Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. This vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected installations of Unified Automation UaGateway. Authentication is required to exploit this vulnerability when the product is in its default configuration.…

more

The specific flaw exists within the handling of NodeManagerOpcUa objects. The issue results from the lack of validating the existence of an object prior to performing operations on the object. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to execute code in the context of SYSTEM. . Was ZDI-CAN-20577.

CWE(s)
CWE-416

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1003 OS Credential Dumping Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to dump credentials to obtain account login and credential material, normally in the form of a hash or a clear text password.
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 →
T1007 System Service Discovery Discovery
Adversaries may try to gather information about registered local system services.
attack.mitre.org →
T1008 Fallback Channels Command And Control
Adversaries may use fallback or alternate communication channels if the primary channel is compromised or inaccessible in order to maintain reliable command and control and to avoid data transfer thresholds.
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 →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-32172Same product: Unified-Automation Uagateway
CVE-2025-38117Shared CWE-416
CVE-2026-26177Shared CWE-416
CVE-2026-34192Shared CWE-416
CVE-2023-0929Shared CWE-416
CVE-2023-22235Shared CWE-416
CVE-2026-23401Shared CWE-416
CVE-2026-9990Shared CWE-416
CVE-2026-50374Shared CWE-416
CVE-2024-23135Shared CWE-416

Affected Assets

unified-automation
uagateway
≤ 1.5.14.495

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 3 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V1.4.3

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation good match

Developer testing and evaluation can discover use-after-free bugs through dynamic analysis or fuzzing.

SA-8 Security and Privacy Engineering Principles partial match

Engineering principles can require memory-safe constructs or languages that structurally avoid introducing use-after-free.

SC-39 Process Isolation partial match

Process isolation confines the blast radius of use-after-free memory corruption to a single execution domain.

SI-16 Memory Protection partial match

Memory protection controls limit exploitation impact by blocking unauthorized code execution from dangling pointers.

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 identification processes can discover use-after-free issues via scanning or analysis but do not prevent their introduction.

PR.PS-02 partial match
blocks

Routine patching removes known use-after-free instances after they have been introduced in released software.

PR.PS-06 partial match
blocks

Secure SDLC practices directly incorporate memory-safety tooling and reviews that prevent most use-after-free defects.

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.5.30 ICT readiness for business continuity partial match
removes

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).

Oracle Linux 8 (1 rule)
  • V-248592 OL 8 must clear memory when it is freed to prevent use-after-free attacks. blocks CWE-416
RHEL 8 (1 rule)
  • V-230279 RHEL 8 must clear memory when it is freed to prevent use-after-free attacks. blocks CWE-416
RHEL 9 (1 rule)
  • V-257794 RHEL 9 must clear memory when it is freed to prevent use-after-free attacks. blocks CWE-416

References