CVE-2023-38952
Zkteco Biotime 8.5.5
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:NCVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.
Summary
CVE-2023-38952 is a high-severity Files or Directories Accessible to External Parties (CWE-552) vulnerability in Zkteco Biotime. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Automated Collection (T1119); ranked in the top 15% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
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-2023-38952 is an insecure access control vulnerability affecting ZKTeco BioTime versions through 9.0.1. The flaw stems from the application failing to validate session identifiers against user roles, which means privilege boundaries between ordinary and administrative accounts are not enforced at the server level.
An authenticated attacker can therefore issue direct HTTP requests to administrative endpoints and invoke functions that should be restricted to admins, resulting in unauthorized privilege escalation and potential exposure of sensitive data. The CVSS 7.5 score reflects network attackability with no required user interaction.
Public disclosures and proof-of-concept code have been published by Claroty and independent researchers, and the EPSS score has reached a peak of 0.2144. No vendor-supplied patches or configuration mitigations are described in the available references.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2023-42712
Vulnerability Data
Insecure access control in ZKTeco BioTime through 9.0.1 allows authenticated attackers to escalate their privileges due to the fact that session ids are not validated for the type of user accessing the application by default. Privilege restrictions between non-admin and…
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admin users are not enforced and any authenticated user can leverage admin functions without restriction by making direct requests to administrative endpoints.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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- 5 hardening rules · 2 OS baselines
V8.4.2
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.
Controls on authorized publication limit files and directories with nonpublic data from becoming accessible to external parties.
Controlling and documenting P2P file sharing prevents files and directories from being made accessible to external parties for unauthorized distribution.
Identifying and documenting file and directory locations allows restriction of access to external parties.
Protecting backup files ensures they are not accessible to external parties or unauthorized spheres.
Sanitizing equipment before off-site maintenance reduces the risk of files or directories containing sensitive data becoming accessible to external parties.
Policy restricts media access to authorized parties only, preventing exposure of resources to external or unauthorized actors.
Media access restrictions prevent files or directories from being accessible to external parties.
Employing and evaluating controls at documented alternate sites makes files and directories less likely to be accessible to external parties through physical or environmental weaknesses.
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.
Enforcing least-privilege permissions and authorization policies directly prevents unauthorized file/directory exposure.
Data-at-rest protections such as encryption or ACLs reduce the impact of unintended file exposure.
Logical segmentation and access protections stop external parties from reaching files that should remain internal.
Hardened configuration baselines commonly include file-system permission settings that limit external access.
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.
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 (2 rules)
- V-248579 OL 8 must restrict access to the kernel message buffer. blocks CWE-552
- V-248597 There must be no "shosts.equiv" files on the OL 8 operating system. blocks CWE-552