dbcve.org
NessusApplication · Tenable

CVE-2023-2005

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-06-26
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
94/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable Zero-click

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
Vulnerability in Tenable Tenable.Io, Tenable Nessus, Tenable Security Center.This issue affects Tenable.Io: before Plugin Feed ID #202306261202 ; Nessus: before Plugin Feed ID #202306261202 ; Security Center: before Plugin Feed ID #202306261202 . This vulnerability could allow a malicious actor with sufficient permissions on a scan target to place a binary in a specific filesystem location, and abuse the impacted plugin in order to escalate privileges.

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 confidence

This is a privilege escalation vulnerability in Tenable Nessus, Tenable.io, and Security Center where a malicious actor with sufficient permissions on a scan target can place a binary in a specific filesystem location and abuse an impacted plugin to escalate privileges. The vulnerability exists in the plugin execution logic and is addressed by updating to Plugin Feed ID #202306261202 or later.

MitigationUpdate the Tenable plugin feed to version #202306261202 or later across all affected Tenable products (Nessus, Tenable.io, Security Center) to remediate this privilege escalation vulnerability.

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
NessusApplication
Affected:all versions
Security CenterApplication
Affected:all versions
Tenable.ioApplication
Affected:all versions

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
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/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 checks

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

  1. Identify the Tenable product in your environment
    Determine whether you are running Tenable Nessus, Tenable.io, or Security Center. Check installed software, services, or cloud console.
    Affected if Any of these three products are deployed in the environment
  2. Locate the plugin feed version information
    Access the plugin feed version or Plugin Feed ID through the product interface: For Nessus, use the Nessus UI under 'Plugins' or run 'nessuscli --feed-info'. For Security Center, check under 'Plugin Feed' in the administration settings. For Tenable.io, this is displayed in the cloud portal under 'Plugin Feed' or 'Feed Information'.
    Affected if Unable to retrieve plugin feed information from the product
  3. Compare your plugin feed version to the fixed version
    Compare your current Plugin Feed ID to version #202306261202. The fixed version is #202306261202 or any later version number.
    Affected if The installed Plugin Feed ID is earlier than #202306261202
  4. Verify if scan targets permit authenticated access
    Review your scan configurations and target permissions to determine whether an attacker with sufficient permissions on a scan target could place files in filesystem locations processed by Nessus plugins.
    Affected if Scan targets accept authenticated scans or allow users with limited permissions to interact with the scanned system in ways that enable file placement in plugin execution paths

You are affected if you run any Tenable product (Nessus, Tenable.io, Security Center) and your plugin feed version is earlier than #202306261202, especially if you perform authenticated scans where attackers could place binaries in scan-relevant filesystem locations.

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

Update the Tenable plugin feed to version #202306261202 or later across all affected Tenable products (Nessus, Tenable.io, Security Center) to remediate this privilege escalation vulnerability.

Recommended fix High confidence

Plugin Feed ID #202306261202 or later (this is a plugin feed update, not a product version change)

  1. Log into Tenable Nessus, Tenable Security Center, or Tenable.io
  2. Navigate to the plugin feed or updates settings
  3. Check the current Plugin Feed ID version
  4. If the Plugin Feed ID is earlier than #202306261202, trigger a plugin feed update
  5. Wait for the plugin feed update to complete
  6. Verify the Plugin Feed ID has updated to #202306261202 or later

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

Fix this in Nessus Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,040
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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-2023-2005 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