Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-44218

Sonicwall Netextender ≤ 10.2.336

Published
03 October 2023
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 8.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0020 10th percentile
Risk Priority 62 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-44218 is a high-severity Privilege Defined With Unsafe Actions (CWE-267) vulnerability in Sonicwall Netextender. Its CVSS base score is 8.8 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Access Token Manipulation (T1134); ranked at the 10th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A flaw within the SonicWall NetExtender Pre-Logon feature enables an unauthorized user to gain access to the host Windows operating system with 'SYSTEM' level privileges, leading to a local privilege escalation (LPE) vulnerability.

CWE(s)
CWE-267NVD-CWE-noinfo

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1134 Access Token Manipulation Stealth
Adversaries may modify access tokens to operate under a different user or system security context to perform actions and bypass access controls.
attack.mitre.org →
T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may circumvent mechanisms designed to control privilege elevation to gain higher-level permissions.
attack.mitre.org →
T1548.001 Setuid and Setgid Privilege Escalation
An adversary may abuse configurations where an application has the setuid or setgid bits set in order to get code running in a different (and possibly more privileged) user’s context.
attack.mitre.org →
T1548.003 Sudo and Sudo Caching Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may perform sudo caching and/or use the sudoers file to elevate privileges.
attack.mitre.org →
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 →
T1123 Audio Capture Collection
An adversary can leverage a computer's peripheral devices (e.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-44217Same product: Sonicwall Netextender
CVE-2024-29014Same product: Sonicwall Netextender
CVE-2023-44220Same product: Sonicwall Netextender
CVE-2023-6340Same product: Sonicwall Netextender
CVE-2023-41715Same vendor: Sonicwall
CVE-2026-29646Shared CWE-267
CVE-2026-0945Shared CWE-267
CVE-2025-62588Shared CWE-267
CVE-2025-62589Shared CWE-267
CVE-2026-23526Shared CWE-267

Affected Assets

sonicwall
netextender
≤ 10.2.336

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 10 hardening rules · 4 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V13.2.2
  • V3.7.3
  • V9.2.2
  • V9.2.3

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-05 mostly match
prevents

Defining and enforcing least-privilege permissions directly reduces the chance that a privilege permits unintended unsafe actions.

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.8.18 Use of privileged utility programs mostly match
mitigates

Use of privileged utility programs restricts dangerous tools but does not address unsafe actions within assigned privileges.

A.5.15 Access control partial match
mitigates

Access control policy can limit unsafe privilege use but does not define safe actions for each privilege.

A.5.18 Access rights partial match
degrades

Access rights assignment can restrict privileges to intended actions, yet does not guarantee the privilege itself is safe.

A.5.3 Segregation of duties partial match
mitigates

Segregation of duties reduces risk of unsafe actions by splitting privileges but does not address unsafe privilege definitions.

A.8.2 Privileged access rights partial match
mitigates

Privileged access rights control can restrict unsafe privileges, yet does not ensure the privilege definition itself is safe.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
mitigates

Secure development lifecycle can catch unsafe privilege definitions during design but does not prevent them at runtime.

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 9 (1 rule)
  • V-271725 OL 9 must require users to provide a password for privilege escalation. prevents CWE-267
Ubuntu 22.04 (3 rules)
  • V-260470 Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, when booted, must require authentication upon booting into single-user and maintenance modes. prevents CWE-267
  • V-260529 Ubuntu 22.04 LTS must be configured so that remote X connections are disabled, unless to fulfill documented and validated mission requirements. prevents CWE-267
  • V-260542 Ubuntu 22.04 LTS must prevent direct login into the root account. prevents CWE-267

References