Security 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 53th percentile
Risk Priority 57 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-2023-43016 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 Brute Force (T1110); ranked in the top 47% 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

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 →
T1001.002 Steganography Command And Control
Adversaries may use steganographic techniques to hide command and control traffic to make detection efforts more difficult.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.001 LSASS Memory Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access credential material stored in the process memory of the Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS).
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2024-45647Same product: Ibm Security Verify Access
CVE-2023-31001Same product: Ibm Security Verify Access
CVE-2024-40700Same product: Ibm Security Verify Access
CVE-2023-31003Same product: Ibm Security Verify Access
CVE-2024-43187Same product: Ibm Security Verify Access
CVE-2024-45659Same product: Ibm Security Verify Access
CVE-2025-0163Same product: Ibm Security Verify Access
CVE-2023-32327Same product: Ibm Security Verify Access
CVE-2024-35133Same product: Ibm Security Verify Access
CVE-2024-35137Same vendor: Ibm

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
  • V6.2.12
  • 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 partial match
blocks

Password-strength policy enforcement directly blocks empty passwords while authentication covers far more than credential storage.

PR.PS-01 partial match
blocks

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.5.14 Information transfer partial match
removes
A.5.15 Access control partial match
removes
A.5.16 Identity management partial match
removes
A.5.17 Authentication information partial match
blocks

Requires secure handling and protection of authentication credentials, directly addressing empty passwords in config files.

A.5.18 Access rights partial match
removes
A.7.3 Securing offices, rooms and facilities partial match
removes

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` (higher-evidence 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. blocks CWE-258
  • V-248716 OL 8 must not allow blank or null passwords in the password-auth file. blocks CWE-258
Oracle Linux 9 (2 rules)
  • V-271634 OL 9 must not allow blank or null passwords. blocks CWE-258
  • V-271706 OL 9 SSHD must not allow blank passwords. blocks 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. blocks 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. blocks CWE-258, CWE-521

References