A1001 FirmwareOperating system · Axis

CVE-2023-21406

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-07-25
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 1.65.4 or later.
See remediation →
93/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
No privileges 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
Ariel Harush and Roy Hodir from OTORIO have found a flaw in the AXIS A1001 when communicating over OSDP. A heap-based buffer overflow was found in the pacsiod process which is handling the OSDP communication allowing to write outside of the allocated buffer. By appending invalid data to an OSDP message it was possible to write data beyond the heap allocated buffer. The data written outside the buffer could be used to execute arbitrary code.  lease refer to the Axis security advisory for more information, mitigation and affected products and software versions.

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

A heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability in the pacsiod process of AXIS A1001 network controllers allows remote attackers to write data beyond the boundaries of heap-allocated buffers during OSDP (Open Supervised Device Protocol) communication. By appending invalid data to OSDP messages, an attacker can trigger the overflow and potentially achieve arbitrary code execution.

MitigationApply vendor-supplied firmware updates from Axis for the A1001 device. Until patches are available, restrict network access to the device's OSDP communication ports and monitor for suspicious OSDP traffic patterns.

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
A1001 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:<= 1.65.4

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
Adjacent
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:A/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 checks

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

  1. Confirm device model is Axis A1001
    Access the device web interface or use network discovery to identify the exact model number of the Axis device. Look for 'A1001' in the device identification.
    Affected if The device is not an Axis A1001 controller, then it is not affected by this specific CVE.
  2. Check installed firmware version
    Log into the Axis device web interface and navigate to the System > About or Settings > Maintenance page to view the current firmware version. Alternatively, use the Axis API or device discovery tool to query the firmware version.
    Affected if Firmware version is 1.65.4 or lower, meaning the device falls within the affected version range.
  3. Verify OSDP protocol is enabled
    Access the device configuration through the web interface and check the OSDP (Open Supervised Device Protocol) settings. Look for OSDP-related configuration sections under Security, Access Control, or Hardware settings.
    Affected if OSDP communication is enabled and configured on the device, making the vulnerable pacsiod process active.
  4. Check network accessibility of OSDP service
    Scan the network to identify open ports associated with OSDP communication (typically port 2000-2001 or vendor-specific ports). Verify if the device OSDP ports are exposed to untrusted networks.
    Affected if The OSDP service port is reachable from outside the trusted network, increasing exposure to remote attack vectors.

A user is affected if they have an Axis A1001 device running firmware version 1.65.4 or lower with OSDP protocol enabled and accessible.

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.

From vendor data
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 1.65.4
Interim mitigation

Apply vendor-supplied firmware updates from Axis for the A1001 device. Until patches are available, restrict network access to the device's OSDP communication ports and monitor for suspicious OSDP traffic patterns.

Fix this in A1001 Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation16.0 h
  • Testing12.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
40.0 hours of engineering $7,000
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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-2023-21406 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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