Cyber Posture

CVE-2023-38272

Medium

Published: 27 March 2025

Published
27 March 2025
Modified
18 August 2025
KEV Added
Patch
CVSS Score 5.9 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0023 46.1th percentile
Risk Priority 12 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2023-38272 is a medium-severity Channel Accessible by Non-Endpoint (CWE-300) vulnerability in Ibm Cloud Pak System. Its CVSS base score is 5.9 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 46.1th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 AU-13 (Monitoring for Information Disclosure) and SC-8 (Transmission Confidentiality and Integrity).

Threat & Defense at a Glance

What attackers do: exploitation maps to Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190) and 1 other technique. What defenders deploy: see the NIST 800-53 controls recommended below.
Threat & Defense Details

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5)AI

prevent

Protects the confidentiality of information transmitted over the network, directly preventing disclosure of sensitive CLI arguments to network-accessible attackers.

detect

Monitors the system for unauthorized disclosure of sensitive information, such as CLI arguments exposed to users with network access.

preventdetect

Monitors and controls communications at system boundaries, mitigating network access that could reveal sensitive CLI arguments.

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

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.
T1005 Data from Local System Collection
Adversaries may search local system sources, such as file systems, configuration files, local databases, virtual machine files, or process memory, to find files of interest and sensitive data prior to Exfiltration.
Why these techniques?

The network-accessible info disclosure vuln in IBM Cloud Pak System enables exploitation of public-facing apps (T1190) and facilitates collection of sensitive data from local CLI arguments (T1005).

Confidence: MEDIUM · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v19.0

NVD Description

IBM Cloud Pak System 2.3.3.0, 2.3.3.3, 2.3.3.3 iFix1, 2.3.3.4, 2.3.3.5, 2.3.3.6, 2.3.36 iFix1, 2.3.3.6 iFix2, 2.3.3.7, 2.3.3.7 iFix1, 2.3.4.0, and 2.3.4.1 could allow a user with access to the network to obtain sensitive information from CLI arguments.

Deeper analysisAI

CVE-2023-38272 is a vulnerability in IBM Cloud Pak System versions 2.3.3.0, 2.3.3.3, 2.3.3.3 iFix1, 2.3.3.4, 2.3.3.5, 2.3.3.6, 2.3.3.6 iFix1, 2.3.3.6 iFix2, 2.3.3.7, 2.3.3.7 iFix1, 2.3.4.0, and 2.3.4.1 that could allow a user with access to the network to obtain sensitive information from CLI arguments. Published on 2025-03-27, it is rated 5.9 on the CVSS 3.1 scale (AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N) and maps to CWE-300 (Channel Accessible by Non-Endpoint).

An unauthenticated attacker with network access can exploit this vulnerability, though it requires high attack complexity and no user interaction. Successful exploitation enables the disclosure of sensitive information with high confidentiality impact, without affecting integrity or availability, and with unchanged scope.

IBM has published an advisory with mitigation details at https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/7229212.

Details

CWE(s)

Affected Products

ibm
cloud pak system
2.3.1.1, 2.3.3.0, 2.3.3.3, 2.3.3.4, 2.3.3.5

CVEs Like This One

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CVE-2025-0162Same vendor: Ibm
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CVE-2023-38010Same product: Ibm Cloud Pak System
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References