Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-38201

Access Control in Keylime ≤ 7.5.0

Published
25 August 2023
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 6.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0050 40th percentile
Risk Priority 50 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-38201 is a medium-severity Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key (CWE-639) vulnerability in Keylime Keylime. Its CVSS base score is 6.5 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 40th 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

Vulnerability Data

A flaw was found in the Keylime registrar that could allow a bypass of the challenge-response protocol during agent registration. This issue may allow an attacker to impersonate an agent and hide the true status of a monitored machine if…

more

the fake agent is added to the verifier list by a legitimate user, resulting in a breach of the integrity of the registrar database.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

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

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-38200Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2024-25983Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2026-5135Same product: Redhat Enterprise Linux
CVE-2026-5142Same product: Redhat Enterprise Linux
CVE-2026-5138Same product: Redhat Enterprise Linux
CVE-2026-9799Same vendor: Redhat
CVE-2026-32589Same vendor: Redhat
CVE-2026-9087Same vendor: Redhat
CVE-2026-14209Same vendor: Redhat
CVE-2026-15945Same vendor: Redhat

Affected Assets

keylime
keylime
≤ 7.5.0
redhat
enterprise linux
9.0
redhat
enterprise linux eus
9.2
redhat
enterprise linux for ibm z systems
9.0_s390x
redhat
enterprise linux for ibm z systems eus
9.2_s390x
redhat
enterprise linux for power little endian
9.0_ppc64le
redhat
enterprise linux for power little endian eus
9.2_ppc64le
redhat
enterprise linux server aus
9.2
fedoraproject
fedora
38

Mitigating Controls

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.

addresses: CWE-639

Per-request decision making makes it harder to bypass authorization using user-controlled keys without proper validation in the decision process.

addresses: CWE-639

Consistent enforcement of approved authorizations makes bypassing via user-controlled keys ineffective.

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 full match
prevents

Enforcing authorization policy and least privilege directly blocks user-controlled key tampering that bypasses access checks.

PR.IR-01 mostly match
prevents

Logical access controls prevent unauthorized data access that results from missing authorization checks on object references.

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.

finds

Security testing can detect missing authorization checks but does not prevent the weakness in production.

prevents

Information access restriction explicitly enforces that users may only retrieve data they are authorized to see, directly addressing user-controlled key bypass.

prevents

Access control policy directly requires enforcement of authorization rules that prevent unauthorized access via manipulated keys.

prevents

Managing access rights includes ensuring users can only access their own records and not bypass authorization by altering identifiers.

mitigates

Privileged access rights control restricts what data each user may access, mitigating direct object reference attacks.

prevents

Secure development lifecycle includes authorization design but does not itself implement runtime access checks.

References