CVE-2023-4169
Published: 05 August 2023
Summary
CVE-2023-4169 is a medium-severity Improper Access Control (CWE-284) vulnerability in Ruijie Rg-Ew1200G Firmware. Its CVSS base score is 6.3 (Medium).
Operationally, ranked in the top 0.3% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.
Deeper analysis
A vulnerability has been identified in the Ruijie RG-EW1200G router running firmware version 1.0(1)B1P5. It resides in the /api/sys/set_passwd endpoint of the Administrator Password Handler component and stems from improper access controls (CWE-284). The issue permits manipulation of sensitive functionality without adequate authorization checks and carries a CVSS 3.1 score of 6.3.
Remote attackers who possess low-privileged credentials can exploit the flaw to alter administrator passwords or bypass intended access restrictions, resulting in limited but meaningful impacts to confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Public proof-of-concept code has been released, confirming that the attack requires no user interaction and can be executed over the network.
The vendor was notified prior to disclosure but did not respond or issue a patch. No official mitigation guidance is available; the primary references consist of a public GitHub repository containing exploit details and entries in the VulDB database. The associated EPSS score stands at 0.9193, indicating sustained exploitation interest following publication.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2023-54048
Vulnerability details
A vulnerability was found in Ruijie RG-EW1200G 1.0(1)B1P5. It has been declared as critical. Affected by this vulnerability is an unknown functionality of the file /api/sys/set_passwd of the component Administrator Password Handler. The manipulation leads to improper access controls. The…
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attack can be launched remotely. The exploit has been disclosed to the public and may be used. The identifier VDB-236185 was assigned to this vulnerability. NOTE: The vendor was contacted early about this disclosure but did not respond in any way.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
No named actor attribution yet. ATT&CK technique mapping in progress for this CVE.
Affected Assets
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.
The access control policy and procedures directly mandate and enforce proper access control mechanisms across the organization.
Device lock enforces restricted access until re-authentication, directly reducing unauthorized use of active sessions.
Supervision and review of access control activities directly detects and remediates improper access configurations or usages.
Explicitly identifying and documenting actions permitted without identification or authentication enforces proper access control boundaries by defining justified exceptions.
By automatically labeling outputs with security attributes, the control supports attribute-based enforcement and reduces exploitability of improper access control weaknesses.
Associating and retaining security attributes with data directly supports enforcement of access control decisions across storage, processing, and transmission.
Requiring prior authorization for each remote access type prevents improper access control over remote connections.
Requiring authorization of wireless access before allowing connections enforces proper access control for this access method.