Security Resilience

CVE-2023-4162

DoS in Broadcom Fabric Operating System 9.0.1a – 9.2.0a

Published
31 August 2023
Modified
20 February 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 4.4
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0017 6th percentile
Risk Priority 34 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-2023-4162 is a medium-severity Unchecked Return Value (CWE-252) vulnerability in Broadcom Fabric Operating System. Its CVSS base score is 4.4 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Data Obfuscation (T1001); ranked at the 6th 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 segmentation fault can occur in Brocade Fabric OS after Brocade Fabric OS v9.0 and before Brocade Fabric OS v9.2.0a through the passwdcfg command. This could allow an authenticated privileged user local user to crash a Brocade Fabric OS swith…

more

using the cli “passwdcfg --set -expire -minDiff“.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1001 Data Obfuscation Command And Control
Adversaries may obfuscate command and control traffic to make it more difficult to detect.
T1003.003 NTDS Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access or create a copy of the Active Directory domain database in order to steal credential information, as well as obtain other information about domain members such as devices, users, and access rights.
T1003.004 LSA Secrets Credential Access
Adversaries with SYSTEM access to a host may attempt to access Local Security Authority (LSA) secrets, which can contain a variety of different credential materials, such as credentials for service accounts.
T1003.007 Proc Filesystem Credential Access
Adversaries may gather credentials from the proc filesystem or `/proc`.
T1011.001 Exfiltration Over Bluetooth Exfiltration
Adversaries may attempt to exfiltrate data over Bluetooth rather than the command and control channel.
T1016 System Network Configuration Discovery Discovery
Adversaries may look for details about the network configuration and settings, such as IP and/or MAC addresses, of systems they access or through information discovery of remote systems.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-4163Same product: Broadcom Fabric Operating System
CVE-2026-87671Same product: Broadcom Fabric Operating System
CVE-2026-87683Same product: Broadcom Fabric Operating System
CVE-2026-87679Same product: Broadcom Fabric Operating System
CVE-2025-58383Same product: Broadcom Fabric Operating System
CVE-2025-58379Same product: Broadcom Fabric Operating System
CVE-2023-31427Same product: Broadcom Fabric Operating System
CVE-2025-1976Same product: Broadcom Fabric Operating System
CVE-2025-4661Same product: Broadcom Fabric Operating System
CVE-2026-87659Same product: Broadcom Fabric Operating System

Affected Assets

broadcom
fabric operating system
9.0.1a — 9.2.0a

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-400

Limiting concurrent sessions directly prevents uncontrolled resource consumption by capping the number of active sessions per user or account.

addresses: CWE-400

Analysis identifies uncontrolled resource consumption indicative of denial-of-service or abuse attempts.

addresses: CWE-400

Contingency plan testing includes resource exhaustion scenarios to verify recovery, making it harder for attackers to sustain exploits that cause uncontrolled consumption.

addresses: CWE-400

Updated contingency plans include current procedures to detect, contain, and recover from resource exhaustion, limiting an attacker's ability to sustain impact from uncontrolled consumption.

addresses: CWE-400

Alternate site allows resumption of operations if resource exhaustion at the primary site is exploited to cause unavailability.

addresses: CWE-400

Alternate telecommunications services enable resumption of essential functions when primary services become unavailable due to uncontrolled resource consumption.

addresses: CWE-400

The team can analyze and respond to resource exhaustion incidents, reducing the impact of attacks that exploit uncontrolled consumption weaknesses.

addresses: CWE-400

Timely maintenance support and spare parts enable rapid recovery from failures induced by uncontrolled resource consumption, shortening the impact window of denial-of-service attacks.

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-06 partial match
blocks

Secure SDLC practices directly require checking and handling all function return values to detect error conditions.

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.

removes
removes
removes
removes
finds

Pre-agreed severity-based prioritization and resource allocation during incident triage reduce the likelihood that an attacker-induced resource exhaustion will overwhelm the organization before corrective action is taken.

Hardening callouts derived

DISA STIG baselines are authored against specific weaknesses. Where this CVE cites a broad weakness class, the mapping is not asserted at that abstraction (owner ruling, 2026-09-25: grade only at Base and below), so no rule is shown here rather than a rule shown against the wrong grain.

  • No fine-grained STIG row for CWE-400, a class-level weakness. Rules are authored against its narrower children: CWE-770.

References