CVE-2023-23477
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 · uneditedIBM WebSphere Application Server 8.5 and 9.0 traditional could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on the system with a specially crafted sequence of serialized objects. IBM X-Force ID: 245513.
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 confidenceIBM WebSphere Application Server 8.5 and 9.0 traditional contains a deserialization vulnerability where a remote attacker can send a specially crafted sequence of serialized objects to achieve arbitrary code execution. This is a critical remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability exploitable without authentication.
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= 8.5= 9.0CVSS 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 WebSphere product type and versionRun the versionInfo command from the WebSphere bin directory: on Linux/Unix use './versionInfo.sh', on Windows use 'versionInfo.bat'. Look for the 'Product Name' (must be IBM WebSphere Application Server traditional, not Liberty) and 'Version' fields.Affected if The installed product is WebSphere traditional and the version starts with 8.5 or 9.0 (for example, 8.5.5.x, 9.0.0.x, 9.0.5.x).
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Verify administrative console accessibilityCheck if the WebSphere administrative console is reachable over the network. Attempt to access the console URL (typically https://hostname:9043/ibm/console or similar) from an untrusted network perspective. Use netstat or similar tools to confirm port 9043 (or configured admin port) is listening on interfaces accessible from outside.Affected if The administrative console port (default 9043) is bound to a non-localhost interface and reachable from untrusted networks.
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Confirm SOAP or REST admin connectors are exposedInspect the WebSphere deployment manager or node agent configuration. Check if SOAP connector (port 8879 default) or administrative REST endpoints are enabled and accessible from non-localhost addresses. Review the serverindex.xml file in the config directory for exposed connector ports.Affected if SOAP or administrative REST connectors are listening on accessible network interfaces without IP restriction.
Your environment is affected if you are running IBM WebSphere Application Server traditional versions 8.5.x or 9.0.x with administrative endpoints (console, SOAP, or REST) accessible from the network, since this CVE allows unauthenticated remote code execution through deserialization.
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 dataApply the appropriate IBM WebSphere fix pack or interim fix for CVE-2023-23477. If immediate patching is not possible, restrict network access to the WebSphere administrative endpoints and consider disabling deserialization of untrusted data where feasible.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation16.0 h
- Testing12.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-23477 — 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-2023-23477 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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