Security Resilience

CVE-2023-38535

Exposed Creds in Opentext Exceed Turbox 12.5.0 … 12.5.1

Exposed Creds
Published
13 March 2024
Modified
10 March 2025
CVSS Score v3.1 4.7
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0027 18th percentile
Risk Priority 37 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-2023-38535 is a medium-severity Use of Hard-coded Cryptographic Key (CWE-321) vulnerability in Opentext Exceed Turbox. Its CVSS base score is 4.7 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Credentials In Files (T1552.001); ranked at the 18th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to IA-5 (Authenticator Management) and SC-12 (Cryptographic Key Establishment and Management) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A04:2025 Cryptographic FailuresA07:2025 Authentication Failures

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Use of Hard-coded Cryptographic Key vulnerability in OpenText™ Exceed Turbo X affecting versions 12.5.1 and 12.5.2. The vulnerability could compromise the cryptographic keys.  

CWE(s)
CWE-321CWE-798

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1552.001 Credentials In Files Credential Access
Adversaries may search local file systems and remote file shares for files containing insecurely stored credentials.
attack.mitre.org →
T1001 Data Obfuscation Command And Control
Adversaries may obfuscate command and control traffic to make it more difficult to detect.
attack.mitre.org →
T1001.002 Steganography Command And Control
Adversaries may use steganographic techniques to hide command and control traffic to make detection efforts more difficult.
attack.mitre.org →
T1001.003 Protocol or Service Impersonation Command And Control
Adversaries may impersonate legitimate protocols or web service traffic to disguise command and control activity and thwart analysis efforts.
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 →
T1003.002 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 →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-38536Same product: Opentext Exceed Turbox
CVE-2023-38534Same product: Opentext Exceed Turbox
CVE-2023-49256Shared CWE-321, CWE-798
CVE-2023-2158Shared CWE-321, CWE-798
CVE-2023-0391Shared CWE-321, CWE-798
CVE-2026-57172Shared CWE-321, CWE-798
CVE-2023-37936Shared CWE-321, CWE-798
CVE-2025-54947Shared CWE-321, CWE-798
CVE-2023-42492Shared CWE-321, CWE-798
CVE-2025-30406Shared CWE-321, CWE-798

Affected Assets

opentext
exceed turbox
12.5.0, 12.5.1

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SC-12 Cryptographic Key Establishment and Management good match

Requiring cryptographic keys to be established and managed according to defined requirements prevents developers from embedding static unchangeable keys.

IA-5 Authenticator Management good match

Authenticator management requires secure distribution and handling of credentials, structurally discouraging hard-coded values.

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-01 partial match
blocks

PR.AA-01's credential/key-management processes can reduce the incentive to embed secrets but do not address or detect hard-coded values in source code, so the weakness remains fully possible.

PR.DS-01 partial match
blocks

Data-at-rest protection policies require proper key management and therefore discourage hard-coded keys.

PR.DS-02 partial match
blocks

Data-in-transit protection similarly depends on non-hard-coded keys for encryption.

PR.PS-01 partial match
blocks

Configuration baselines and reviews can prohibit hard-coded keys in deployed artifacts.

PR.PS-06 partial match
blocks

Secure-SDLC activities such as code review and secret scanning directly prevent embedding static keys.

PR.AA-02 none match
blocks

PR.AA-02 addresses human identity proofing and per-person credential issuance at enrollment; it has no bearing on whether developers embed static credentials in software.

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.6.3 Information security awareness, education and training partial match
blocks

Education on secure configuration practices discourages technical staff from embedding or relying on hard-coded credentials in systems and applications.

References