Security Resilience

CVE-2023-47257

RCE in Connectwise Automate

Published
01 February 2024
Modified
07 May 2025
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 8.1
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.010 63th percentile
Risk Priority 67 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-2023-47257 is a high-severity Code Injection (CWE-94) vulnerability in Connectwise Automate. Its CVSS base score is 8.1 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Junk Data (T1001.001); ranked in the top 37% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

ConnectWise ScreenConnect through version 23.8.4 contains a vulnerability that permits man-in-the-middle attackers to achieve remote code execution by sending crafted messages to the application. The flaw is tracked as CVE-2023-47257 with a CVSS 3.1 score of 8.1 and is associated with CWE-94 improper control of generation of code. It affects the ScreenConnect remote access and support product when network communication occurs without sufficient integrity protections.

An unauthenticated network attacker positioned to intercept or modify traffic between ScreenConnect components can supply malicious messages that result in arbitrary code execution on the target system. The attack requires no user interaction or credentials and can lead to full confidentiality, integrity, and availability impacts once code execution is obtained, although the high attack complexity reflects the need for a successful man-in-the-middle position.

The vendor ConnectWise released a security bulletin addressing the issue in the 23.8 release series and advises customers to apply the available updates. Public references also include third-party analysis confirming the same remediation path. The EPSS score has remained flat at 0.0672 with no observed increase after disclosure.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

ConnectWise ScreenConnect through 23.8.4 allows man-in-the-middle attackers to achieve remote code execution via crafted messages.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1001.001 Junk Data Command And Control
Adversaries may add junk data to protocols used for command and control to make detection more difficult.
T1001.003 Protocol or Service Impersonation Command And Control
Adversaries may impersonate legitimate protocols or web service traffic to disguise command and control activity and thwart analysis efforts.
T1003.006 DCSync Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access credentials and other sensitive information by abusing a Windows Domain Controller's application programming interface (API)(Citation: Microsoft DRSR Dec 2017) (Citation: Microsoft GetNCCChanges) (Citati…
T1003.007 Proc Filesystem Credential Access
Adversaries may gather credentials from the proc filesystem or `/proc`.
T1003.008 /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to dump the contents of <code>/etc/passwd</code> and <code>/etc/shadow</code> to enable offline password cracking.
T1007 System Service Discovery Discovery
Adversaries may try to gather information about registered local system services.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-32613Shared CWE-94
CVE-2024-32641Shared CWE-94
CVE-2023-28333Shared CWE-94
CVE-2026-30305Shared CWE-94
CVE-2024-25502Shared CWE-94
CVE-2025-15024Shared CWE-94
CVE-2024-25376Shared CWE-94
CVE-2024-10899Shared CWE-94
CVE-2025-14324Shared CWE-94
CVE-2026-9147Shared CWE-94

Affected Assets

connectwise
automate
all versions
connectwise
screenconnect
≤ 23.8.5

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

—

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V1.3.1

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and evaluation finds code paths that accept and execute externally influenced strings.

Input validation directly stops untrusted data from being used to construct executable code without neutralization.

Least privilege limits the damage an injected code fragment can perform once executed.

Requiring documented secure development standards and tools enforces use of safe code-generation APIs and escaping.

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.PS-06 mostly match
blocks

PR.PS-06's SDLC practices directly target injection flaws via secure coding and testing (mostly), yet as a single broad outcome it leaves many code-generation specifics unaddressed (partial).

PR.DS-10 none match
blocks

PR.DS-10 protects runtime data confidentiality/integrity but has no bearing on neutralizing externally influenced input during code generation, so neither direction shows any preventive effect.

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.

removes
removes
removes
removes
removes

References