Cyber 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 0.0016 6th percentile
Risk Priority 34 floored blend · peak EPSS

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 OS Exhaustion Flood (T1499.001); 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

T1499.001 OS Exhaustion Flood Impact
Adversaries may launch a denial of service (DoS) attack targeting an endpoint's operating system (OS).
T1498 Network Denial of Service Impact
Adversaries may perform Network Denial of Service (DoS) attacks to degrade or block the availability of targeted resources to users.
T1499 Endpoint Denial of Service Impact
Adversaries may perform Endpoint Denial of Service (DoS) attacks to degrade or block the availability of services to users.
T1499.002 Service Exhaustion Flood Impact
Adversaries may target the different network services provided by systems to conduct a denial of service (DoS).
T1499.003 Application Exhaustion Flood Impact
Adversaries may target resource intensive features of applications to cause a denial of service (DoS), denying availability to those applications.
T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
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-2025-58379Same product: Broadcom Fabric Operating System
CVE-2025-58383Same product: Broadcom Fabric Operating System
CVE-2025-1976Same product: Broadcom Fabric Operating System
CVE-2023-31429Same product: Broadcom Fabric Operating System
CVE-2023-31427Same product: Broadcom Fabric Operating System
CVE-2025-4661Same product: Broadcom Fabric Operating System
CVE-2025-58382Same product: Broadcom Fabric Operating System
CVE-2025-9711Same product: Broadcom Fabric Operating System
CVE-2025-4663Same 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.IR-04 mostly match
prevents

Explicitly requires monitoring and maintaining resource capacity, directly addressing uncontrolled consumption to preserve availability.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

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

DE.CM-09 partial match
prevents

Continuous monitoring of computing resources can detect resource exhaustion but does not itself enforce allocation limits.

PR.IR-03 partial match
prevents

Resilience mechanisms such as avoiding single points of failure indirectly reduce impact of resource exhaustion.

PR.PS-01 partial match
prevents

Hardened configuration baselines can include resource quotas and limits that constrain consumption.

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

Resource-utilization monitoring and alerting on bottlenecks or overloads limits the impact of denial-of-service or resource-exhaustion attacks.

finds

Security testing in development and acceptance can detect missing return-value checks.

prevents

By continuously monitoring utilization, stress-testing peak loads, and maintaining documented plans to scale or throttle resources, the control directly limits an attacker’s ability to drive a system into uncontrolled resource exhaustion.

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.

mitigates

Business-continuity plans that include resource-management controls reduce the likelihood that an attacker can trigger uncontrolled resource consumption by forcing the system into a degraded or fallback state.

mitigates

Defining RTOs and capacity requirements for ICT services during business-impact analysis forces organizations to provision sufficient resources and throttling mechanisms, reducing the likelihood that an attacker can induce denial-of-service through uncontrolled resource consumption.

References