Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-43016

Ibm Security Verify Access 10.0.0.0 – 10.0.6.1

Published
03 February 2024
Modified
03 November 2025
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.3
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L
EPSS Score 0.0071 50th percentile
Risk Priority 57 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-43016 is a high-severity Empty Password in Configuration File (CWE-258) vulnerability in Ibm Security Verify Access. Its CVSS base score is 7.3 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Valid Accounts (T1078); ranked in the top 50% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to IA-2 (Identification and Authentication (Organizational Users)) and IA-5 (Authenticator Management) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A07:2025 Authentication Failures

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

IBM Security Access Manager Container (IBM Security Verify Access Appliance 10.0.0.0 through 10.0.6.1 and IBM Security Verify Access Docker 10.0.0.0 through 10.0.6.1) could allow a remote user to log into the server due to a user account with an empty…

more

password. IBM X-Force ID: 266154.

CWE(s)
CWE-258CWE-521

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1078 Valid Accounts Stealth
Adversaries may obtain and abuse credentials of existing accounts as a means of gaining Initial Access, Persistence, Privilege Escalation, or Defense Evasion.
attack.mitre.org →
T1110 Brute Force Credential Access
Adversaries may use brute force techniques to gain access to accounts when passwords are unknown or when password hashes are obtained.
attack.mitre.org →
T1110.001 Password Guessing Credential Access
Adversaries with no prior knowledge of legitimate credentials within the system or environment may guess passwords to attempt access to accounts.
attack.mitre.org →
T1110.002 Password Cracking Credential Access
Adversaries may use password cracking to attempt to recover usable credentials, such as plaintext passwords, when credential material such as password hashes are obtained.
attack.mitre.org →
T1110.003 Password Spraying Credential Access
Adversaries may use a single or small list of commonly used passwords against many different accounts to attempt to acquire valid account credentials.
attack.mitre.org →
T1133 External Remote Services Persistence
Adversaries may leverage external-facing remote services to initially access and/or persist within a network.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-0163Same product: Ibm Security Verify Access
CVE-2023-31001Same product: Ibm Security Verify Access
CVE-2024-45657Same product: Ibm Security Verify Access
CVE-2023-31005Same product: Ibm Security Verify Access
CVE-2023-31004Same product: Ibm Security Verify Access
CVE-2024-45659Same product: Ibm Security Verify Access
CVE-2023-38267Same product: Ibm Security Verify Access
CVE-2023-32327Same product: Ibm Security Verify Access
CVE-2024-45647Same product: Ibm Security Verify Access
CVE-2023-31003Same product: Ibm Security Verify Access

Affected Assets

ibm
security verify access
10.0.0.0 — 10.0.6.1
ibm
security verify access docker
10.0.0.0 — 10.0.6.1

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 8 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V6.2.4
  • V6.2.9
  • V6.2.12
  • V6.4.1

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

IA-5 Authenticator Management good match

IA-5 directly requires organizations to enforce strength, complexity, and change rules for passwords and other authenticators at issuance and reset.

IA-2 Identification and Authentication (Organizational Users) good match

Mandatory identification and authentication of users cannot be satisfied by an empty password, blocking unauthenticated access paths.

AC-3 Access Enforcement partial match

Access enforcement applies approved authorizations and therefore rejects attempts that rely on missing or empty credentials.

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.AA-03 full match
prevents

Explicitly requires enforcing minimum password strength as part of authentication.

PR.PS-01 mostly match
prevents

Hardened configuration baselines and reviews prevent empty-password settings, yet configuration management addresses many other settings beyond credentials.

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.

A.5.17 Authentication information mostly match
prevents

Enforcing minimum length, complexity, non-dictionary, and non-reuse rules directly counters weak password policies that allow attackers to guess or brute-force credentials.

A.8.9 Configuration management mostly match
prevents

Configuration management processes would normally detect and correct insecure empty-password settings.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Secure development lifecycle includes controls that should prevent shipping empty passwords in configuration artifacts.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly forbid hard-coded or empty credentials.

A.8.5 Secure authentication partial match
prevents

Mandates secure authentication mechanisms, preventing use of empty or weak passwords.

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` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

Oracle Linux 8 (2 rules)
  • V-248715 OL 8 must not allow blank or null passwords in the system-auth file. prevents CWE-258
  • V-248716 OL 8 must not allow blank or null passwords in the password-auth file. prevents CWE-258
Oracle Linux 9 (2 rules)
  • V-271634 OL 9 must not allow blank or null passwords. prevents CWE-258
  • V-271706 OL 9 SSHD must not allow blank passwords. prevents CWE-258
RHEL 7 (2 rules)
  • V-204424 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must not allow accounts configured with blank or null passwords. prevents CWE-258, CWE-521
  • V-204425 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must be configured so that the SSH daemon does not allow authentication using an empty password. prevents CWE-258, CWE-521

References