CVE-2023-1966
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 · uneditedInstruments with Illumina Universal Copy Service v1.x and v2.x contain an unnecessary privileges vulnerability. An unauthenticated malicious actor could upload and execute code remotely at the operating system level, which could allow an attacker to change settings, configurations, software, or access sensitive data on the affected product.
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 · high confidenceIllumina Universal Copy Service v1.x and v2.x contains an unnecessary privileges vulnerability allowing unauthenticated attackers to upload and execute code remotely at the operating system level. This enables full system compromise including modification of settings, configurations, software, and access to sensitive data.
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= 4.0.0= 4.0.5all versions>= 2.0>= 4.0>= 4.0.1= 4.0= 4.0= 4.0>= 1.0.0, <= 1.3.1>= 1.3.3= 4.0CVSS 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
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify device model and firmware versionAccess the Illumina instrument control software or device management interface and locate the firmware version information. Common locations: Settings > System > About, or during device boot-up screen, or via the instrument's web interface.Affected if Firmware version matches any of these: Iscan =4.0.0 or =4.0.5; Iseq 100 all versions; Miniseq >=2.0; Miseq >=4.0; Miseqdx >=4.0.1 or =4.0; Nextseq 500 =4.0; Nextseq 550 =4.0; Nextseq 550dx >=1.0.0 <=1.3.1, >=1.3.3, or =4.0
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Locate Universal Copy Service versionCheck the installed Universal Copy Service version through the device management interface, service configuration panel, or by querying the service directly if administrative access is available. Look for UCS or Universal Copy Service in installed software lists.Affected if Universal Copy Service version is v1.x or v2.x (any version in these ranges)
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Verify network exposure of Universal Copy ServiceExamine network configuration settings for the Universal Copy Service. Check if the service is bound to accessible network interfaces, review firewall rules, and verify if unauthenticated remote access is permitted. Look for network listening configurations in UCS settings.Affected if Universal Copy Service is accessible over network without authentication or is bound to externally accessible network interfaces
The environment is affected if any Illumina instrument runs the listed firmware versions OR runs Universal Copy Service v1.x/v2.x with network exposure, allowing unauthenticated remote code execution.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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.
From vendor dataUpgrade to patched versions of Illumina Universal Copy Service as provided by the vendor; if patching is immediately unavailable, restrict network exposure and implement additional authentication layers.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation16.0 h
- Testing24.0 h
- Review / QA8.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-1966 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-1966 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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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.
- 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