Security Resilience

CVE-2023-53960

SQLi in Sound4 First Firmware 1.69 … 2.15

Public PoCSQLi
Published
22 December 2025
Modified
16 January 2026
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v4 9.3
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
EPSS Score 0.0074 54th percentile
Risk Priority 47 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-2023-53960 is a critical-severity SQL Injection (CWE-89) vulnerability in Sound4 First Firmware. Its CVSS base score is 9.3 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Protocol or Service Impersonation (T1001.003); ranked in the top 46% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

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.

CVE-2023-53960 is an SQL injection vulnerability (CWE-89) in the authentication mechanism of SOUND4 IMPACT, FIRST, PULSE, and Eco versions 2.x. The issue affects the 'index.php' file, where attackers can inject malicious SQL code via the 'password' POST parameter to manipulate login credentials. It has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H), indicating critical severity with high impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

Remote attackers with no privileges or user interaction can exploit this vulnerability over the network with low complexity. By submitting crafted SQL payloads in the password field during login attempts, they can bypass authentication and gain unauthorized access to the system.

Advisories from VulnCheck and Zero Science Lab (ZSL-2022-5726) describe the SQL injection via authentication bypass, while a proof-of-concept exploit is publicly available on Exploit-DB (exploit 51171). No specific patch or mitigation details are provided in the referenced advisories.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A05:2025 Injection

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

SOUND4 IMPACT/FIRST/PULSE/Eco version 2.x contains an SQL injection vulnerability in the 'index.php' authentication mechanism that allows attackers to manipulate login credentials. Attackers can inject malicious SQL code through the 'password' POST parameter to bypass authentication and potentially gain unauthorized access…

more

to the system.

CWE(s)
CWE-89

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

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.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003 OS Credential Dumping Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to dump credentials to obtain account login and credential material, normally in the form of a hash or a clear text password.
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 →
T1003.002 Security Account Manager Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to extract credential material from the Security Account Manager (SAM) database either through in-memory techniques or through the Windows Registry where the SAM database is stored.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.003 NTDS Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access or create a copy of the Active Directory domain database in order to steal credential information, as well as obtain other information about domain members such as devices, users, and access rights.
attack.mitre.org →
T1005 Data from Local System Collection
Adversaries may search local system sources, such as file systems, configuration files, local databases, virtual machine files, or process memory, to find files of interest and sensitive data prior to Exfiltration.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-48687Shared CWE-89
CVE-2023-30092Shared CWE-89
CVE-2023-43610Shared CWE-89
CVE-2024-7676Shared CWE-89
CVE-2023-45341Shared CWE-89
CVE-2023-4851Shared CWE-89
CVE-2024-34955Shared CWE-89
CVE-2024-2590Shared CWE-89
CVE-2024-32137Shared CWE-89
CVE-2024-45918Shared CWE-89

Affected Assets

sound4
first firmware
1.69, 2.15
sound4
impact eco firmware
1.16
sound4
pulse eco firmware
1.16
sound4
big voice4 firmware
1.2
sound4
big voice2 firmware
1.30
sound4
wm2 firmware
1.11
sound4
impact firmware
1.69, 2.15
sound4
pulse firmware
1.69, 2.15
sound4
stream extension
2.4.29

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)
  • V6.2.5

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation good match

Developer testing and evaluation can discover SQLi flaws before deployment but does not stop their introduction.

SI-10 Information Input Validation good match

Input validation directly stops untrusted data from reaching SQL query construction without neutralization.

SA-8 Security and Privacy Engineering Principles partial match

Secure engineering principles require parameterized queries and input sanitization that structurally eliminate SQLi.

SI-4 System Monitoring partial match

System monitoring can identify attempted SQLi exploitation via anomalous queries after the weakness exists.

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

Secure SDLC practices directly target injection flaws during coding and review so largely prevent CWE-89 introduction, yet the single broad outcome leaves residual risk from incomplete neutralization techniques or missed edge cases.

PR.AT-02 partial match
blocks

Training raises developer awareness of SQLi risks and can reduce introduction likelihood (partial) but removes none of the actual coding flaw's risk by itself since technical neutralization is still required.

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
removes
A.5.18 Access rights partial match
removes
A.5.6 Contact with special interest groups partial match
blocks

A.5.6 only improves knowledge flow, awareness of threats/patches and access to specialist advice; it does not stop SQL injection from being exploitable in code that still contains the flaw.

References