Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-33873

LPE in Aveva Communication Drivers ≤ 2020

LPE
Published
15 November 2023
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0024 15th percentile
Risk Priority 55 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-33873 is a high-severity Execution with Unnecessary Privileges (CWE-250) vulnerability in Aveva Communication Drivers. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 15th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

This privilege escalation vulnerability, if exploited, cloud allow a local OS-authenticated user with standard privileges to escalate to System privilege on the machine where these products are installed, resulting in complete compromise of the target machine.

CWE(s)
CWE-250NVD-CWE-Other

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
attack.mitre.org →
T1055 Process Injection Stealth
Adversaries may inject code into processes in order to evade process-based defenses as well as possibly elevate privileges.
attack.mitre.org →
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-34982Same product: Aveva Batch Management
CVE-2023-6132Same product: Aveva Batch Management
CVE-2025-65117Same vendor: Aveva
CVE-2026-22549Shared CWE-250
CVE-2024-43583Shared CWE-250
CVE-2026-12505Shared CWE-250
CVE-2026-59133Shared CWE-250
CVE-2025-62876Shared CWE-250
CVE-2024-6913Shared CWE-250
CVE-2024-7102Shared CWE-250

Affected Assets

aveva
batch management
2020 · ≤ 2020
aveva
communication drivers
2020 · ≤ 2020
aveva
edge
≤ 20.1.101
aveva
enterprise licensing
≤ 3.7.002
aveva
historian
2020 · ≤ 2020
aveva
intouch
2020 · ≤ 2020
aveva
manufacturing execution system
2020 · ≤ 2020
aveva
mobile operator
2020 · ≤ 2020
aveva
plant scada
2020 · ≤ 2020
aveva
recipe management
2020 · ≤ 2020
+3 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)
  • 6 hardening rules · 6 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V10.2.3
  • V13.2.2

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.

AC-1 Policy and Procedures
addresses: CWE-250

Policy promotes least privilege by defining necessary privileges and management commitment to them.

AC-13 Supervision and Review — Access Control
addresses: CWE-250

Supervision detects and allows removal of unnecessary privileges that enable execution with excess rights.

AC-2 Account Management
addresses: CWE-250

Reviewing accounts for compliance, disabling/removing unneeded accounts, and aligning with termination processes prevents execution with unnecessary privileges.

AC-5 Separation of Duties
addresses: CWE-250

Separation of duties prevents any single user from holding all privileges needed to complete a critical task, directly reducing execution with unnecessary privileges.

AC-6 Least Privilege
addresses: CWE-250

Directly prevents execution with more privileges than needed for assigned tasks.

AT-3 Role-based Training
addresses: CWE-250

Role-based training on least privilege principles reduces the chance personnel assign or retain unnecessary privileges.

AU-6 Audit Record Review, Analysis, and Reporting
addresses: CWE-250

Analysis of audit records can identify execution with unnecessary privileges through unusual activity patterns.

CA-9 Internal System Connections
addresses: CWE-250

Automatic termination after a defined period eliminates unnecessary privileges from persistent connections.

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.AA-05 mostly match
prevents

PR.AA-05 directly enforces least privilege so largely eliminates CWE-250 at design time, yet the weakness can still arise from runtime escalation paths, third-party code, or misapplied role definitions outside this single control.

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.5.18 Access rights mostly match
prevents

Requiring explicit justification and time-limited grants discourages the routine allocation of unnecessary privileges that would otherwise allow execution with more rights than required.

A.8.18 Use of privileged utility programs mostly match
prevents

Restricting privileged utilities to the fewest trusted users and requiring explicit authorization directly stops developers or operators from embedding or invoking code that runs with unnecessary elevated rights.

A.8.2 Privileged access rights mostly match
prevents

Mandating separate non-privileged identities for routine work and restricting privileged accounts to administrative tasks reduces the chance that everyday operations run with unnecessary elevated rights.

A.8.9 Configuration management mostly match
prevents

The control explicitly calls for minimizing privileged identities and disabling unnecessary accounts, thereby reducing the number of processes that run with unnecessary privileges.

A.5.15 Access control partial match
prevents

The requirement to restrict privileged access and apply segregation of duties limits the number of processes or accounts that must run with elevated rights, lowering the impact of unnecessary privilege assignments.

A.5.3 Segregation of duties partial match
mitigates

Forcing distinct roles for initiating versus executing changes reduces the chance that an individual will run with unnecessary privileges to perform both steps.

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` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

Windows 10 (1 rule)
  • V-220712 Only accounts responsible for the administration of a system must have Administrator rights on the system. prevents CWE-250
Windows 11 (1 rule)
  • V-253269 Only accounts responsible for the administration of a system must have Administrator rights on the system. prevents CWE-250
Windows Server 2016 (1 rule)
  • V-225007 Only administrators responsible for the member server or standalone or nondomain-joined system must have Administrator rights on the system. prevents CWE-250
Windows Server 2019 (1 rule)
  • V-205746 Windows Server 2019 must only allow Administrators responsible for the member server or standalone or nondomain-joined system to have Administrator rights on the system. prevents CWE-250
Windows Server 2022 (1 rule)
  • V-254428 Windows Server 2022 must only allow administrators responsible for the member server or standalone or nondomain-joined system to have Administrator rights on the system. prevents CWE-250

References