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ServicenowApplication

CVE-2023-1209

MEDIUM · 5.4 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-05-23
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
58/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities exist in ServiceNow records allowing an authenticated attacker to inject arbitrary scripts.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · moderate confidence

Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in ServiceNow allows authenticated users to inject arbitrary scripts into records. The vulnerability stems from insufficient input sanitization or output encoding when handling data in ServiceNow tables/forms.

MitigationImplement proper input validation and output encoding for all user-supplied data in ServiceNow records; apply ServiceNow security patches when available and follow ServiceNow security hardening guidelines.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
ServicenowApplication
Affected:= rome= san_diego= tokyo= utah

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify ServiceNow version
    Check the System UI > Version or go to /nav_to.do?uri=/v_version.do?sys_id=sys_properties.glide.u.version to find your installed ServiceNow version
    Affected if Your version matches rome, san_diego, tokyo, or utah
  2. Review tables with user input
    Identify all custom tables and forms that accept user-supplied data, particularly those accessible to authenticated users without elevated privileges
    Affected if Your instance has custom or extended tables that accept user input and are accessible to standard authenticated users
  3. Check ACL configurations
    Inspect Access Control Lists (ACLs) on tables that handle user data to determine if they permit script injection through input fields
    Affected if ACLs allow users to create or modify records containing scriptable content without strict input validation
  4. Examine script includes and business rules
    Review any script includes or business rules that process data from user-accessible tables without proper output encoding
    Affected if Server-side scripts process and display user-supplied data without sanitizing output before rendering in forms or lists

You are affected if your ServiceNow version is rome, san_diego, tokyo, and you have tables or forms accessible to authenticated users that handle user-supplied data without proper input validation and output encoding.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Implement proper input validation and output encoding for all user-supplied data in ServiceNow records; apply ServiceNow security patches when available and follow ServiceNow security hardening guidelines.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Upgrade to a version beyond Utah (e.g., Vancouver or later) or apply the CVE-2023-1209 security hotfix for your specific release

  1. Check your current ServiceNow instance version in System Properties > Instance details
  2. Review ServiceNow security advisory (KB) for CVE-2023-1209 at support.servicenow.com to obtain the specific patch/hotfix ID
  3. Apply the relevant security patch for your Rome, San Diego, Tokyo, or Utah release
  4. Alternatively, upgrade to a later major version beyond Utah (e.g., Vancouver or later) which contains the security fix
  5. Verify the patch was applied successfully by confirming the fix in your instance's security fixes list
Caveat Review release notes for any breaking changes when upgrading major versions; test thoroughly in a sub-production instance first

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Servicenow Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
21.0 hours of engineering $3,680
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-1209 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data