CVE-2023-2335
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 · uneditedPlaintext Password in Registry vulnerability in 42gears surelock windows surelockwinsetupv2.40.0.Exe on Windows (Registery modules) allows Retrieve Admin user credentials This issue affects surelock windows: from 2.3.12 through 2.40.0.
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 confidenceThe 42gears SureLock Windows application stores admin user credentials in plaintext within the Windows Registry. This allows any local user or malware with registry access to retrieve admin passwords without authentication. The vulnerability stems from insecure storage of sensitive credentials in a location accessible to standard users.
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>= 2.3.12, <= 2.40.0CVSS 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
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Confirm SureLock installation and versionOpen Windows Settings > Apps > Apps & Features and locate 42gears SureLock, or run PowerShell: Get-ItemProperty 'HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*' | Where-Object {$_.DisplayName -like '*SureLock*'} | Select-Object DisplayName, DisplayVersionAffected if SureLock is installed and version falls between 2.3.12 and 2.40.0 inclusive
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Identify registry location storing credentialsLocate the Windows Registry keys used by SureLock for storing admin credentials. Typical paths may be under HKLM\SOFTWARE\42gears or HKCU\SOFTWARE\42gears. Use Regedit to navigate to these locations or run: Get-ChildItem -Path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE','HKCU:\SOFTWARE' -Recurse -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Where-Object {$_.Name -like '*42gears*' -or $_.Name -like '*SureLock*'}Affected if Registry keys containing admin usernames and passwords exist and contain plaintext credential data
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Verify registry key permissions allow standard user accessRight-click the identified credential registry key in Regedit, select Permissions, and check the permissions for the Users group. Alternatively, run: Get-Acl 'REGISTRY::HKLM\SOFTWARE\42gears\SureLock' | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Access | Where-Object {$_.IdentityReference -like '*Users*' -and $_.FileSystemRights -like '*Read*'}Affected if Standard users or the Users group have Read access to the registry keys storing credentials, allowing any local user to retrieve the plaintext passwords
Your environment is affected if SureLock version is between 2.3.12 and 2.40.0 and the registry keys storing admin credentials are readable by standard users.
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 a version beyond 2.40.0 that addresses this vulnerability. Until patched, restrict registry permissions to prevent unauthorized access and monitor for suspicious registry read operations.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation16.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-2335 — 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-2023-2335 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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- 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
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