Security Resilience

CVE-2023-54331

Getoutline Outline

Public PoC
Published
13 January 2026
Modified
02 February 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v4 8.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/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 0.0023 13th percentile
Risk Priority 32 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-2023-54331 is a high-severity Unquoted Search Path or Element (CWE-428) vulnerability in Getoutline Outline. Its CVSS base score is 8.5 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique LSASS Memory (T1003.001); ranked at the 13th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); 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 SA-15 (Development Process, Standards, and Tools) — 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-2023-54331 is an unquoted service path vulnerability affecting Outline version 1.6.0. The issue resides in the OutlineService executable, where the service path is not properly quoted, enabling local privilege escalation. This flaw, classified under CWE-428, has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.8 (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H), indicating high impact potential upon successful exploitation.

Local attackers with low-privilege (PR:L) access on a vulnerable system can exploit the unquoted path by placing a malicious executable in a directory that precedes the legitimate OutlineService binary in the system's search path. When the OutlineService is started or restarted, the system executes the attacker's malicious code instead, granting LocalSystem-level privileges. This allows full control over the system, including arbitrary code execution with elevated permissions.

Advisories and references provide further details on the vulnerability. The Vulncheck advisory at https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/outline-unquoted-service-path outlines the issue, while an exploit is publicly available at https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/51128. The official Outline site at https://getoutline.org/ serves as a resource for the affected software. No specific patch details are detailed in the provided information.

A proof-of-concept exploit exists on Exploit-DB, demonstrating practical exploitability, though no evidence of widespread real-world exploitation is noted in the available data.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Outline 1.6.0 contains an unquoted service path vulnerability that allows local attackers to potentially execute arbitrary code with elevated system privileges. Attackers can exploit the unquoted service path in the OutlineService executable to inject malicious code that will be executed…

more

with LocalSystem permissions.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

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).
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.
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…
T1007 System Service Discovery Discovery
Adversaries may try to gather information about registered local system services.
T1011 Exfiltration Over Other Network Medium Exfiltration
Adversaries may attempt to exfiltrate data over a different network medium than the command and control channel.
T1016.001 Internet Connection Discovery Discovery
Adversaries may check for Internet connectivity on compromised systems.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

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Affected Assets

getoutline
outline
all versions

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and evaluation can discover unquoted search paths through static analysis or dynamic test cases.

Documented development standards and tools can mandate proper quoting and escaping of path elements.

Engineering principles can require safe construction and quoting of search paths and command elements.

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 partial match
blocks

Secure SDLC practices directly prevent path-handling flaws such as unquoted elements during development.

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.

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References