Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-40057

Deserialization in Solarwinds Access Rights Manager ≤ 2023.2.2

Published
15 February 2024
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 9.0
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.042 90th percentile
Risk Priority 72 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-40057 is a critical-severity Deserialization of Untrusted Data (CWE-502) vulnerability in Solarwinds Access Rights Manager. Its CVSS base score is 9.0 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked in the top 10% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

The vulnerability CVE-2023-40057 is a remote code execution flaw in SolarWinds Access Rights Manager, tied to CWE-502 and carrying a CVSS 3.1 score of 9.0. It enables an authenticated user to abuse a SolarWinds service and obtain arbitrary code execution with adjacent network access, low attack complexity, and no user interaction required.

An authenticated attacker positioned on the same network segment can leverage the issue to execute code remotely, resulting in full compromise of confidentiality, integrity, and availability on the affected system due to the changed scope in the CVSS vector.

SolarWinds has published an advisory for CVE-2023-40057 at https://www.solarwinds.com/trust-center/security-advisories/CVE-2023-40057 that addresses the vulnerability and outlines mitigation steps for customers.

The associated EPSS score remains flat at 0.1168 with no material upward trajectory after disclosure.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

The SolarWinds Access Rights Manager was found to be susceptible to a Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. If exploited, this vulnerability allows an authenticated user to abuse a SolarWinds service resulting in remote code execution.

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.
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-35184Same product: Solarwinds Access Rights Manager
CVE-2024-28074Same product: Solarwinds Access Rights Manager
CVE-2024-28991Same product: Solarwinds Access Rights Manager
CVE-2024-23478Same product: Solarwinds Access Rights Manager
CVE-2023-35186Same product: Solarwinds Access Rights Manager
CVE-2024-28075Same product: Solarwinds Access Rights Manager
CVE-2023-35182Same product: Solarwinds Access Rights Manager
CVE-2023-35180Same product: Solarwinds Access Rights Manager
CVE-2024-23469Same product: Solarwinds Access Rights Manager
CVE-2024-23472Same product: Solarwinds Access Rights Manager

Affected Assets

solarwinds
access rights manager
≤ 2023.2.2

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and evaluation can uncover deserialization flaws before deployment.

Input validation directly stops deserialization of untrusted data by ensuring inputs are valid before processing.

Engineering principles such as safe deserialization and input sanitization structurally prevent the weakness from being introduced.

Integrity verification tools can detect malformed or tampered serialized data after the fact.

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.PS-02 none match
prevents

PR.PS-02 addresses only post-deployment updates/patching and cannot prevent introduction of unsafe deserialization code, yet it can remediate some instances when the flaw exists in outdated libraries or components.

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 includes validation of deserialization routines and the use of untrusted data, reducing the likelihood that unsafe object reconstruction will be deployed.

prevents

Requiring vetted libraries, regular updates and SAST before release reduces the likelihood that deserialization logic will accept and act on attacker-controlled serialized objects.

finds

Regular scanning of third-party libraries and timely patching reduce the likelihood that unsafe deserialization vulnerabilities remain active.

none

Mandatory malware scanning of data received over networks or storage media intercepts malicious serialized payloads before they are deserialized by the target application.

References