CVE-2023-23774
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 · uneditedMotorola EBTS/MBTS Site Controller drops to debug prompt on unhandled exception. The Motorola MBTS Site Controller exposes a debug prompt on the device's serial port in case of an unhandled exception. This allows an attacker with physical access that is able to trigger such an exception to extract secret key material and/or gain arbitrary code execution on the device.
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 confidenceMotorola MBTS Site Controller exposes a debug prompt on the serial port when an unhandled exception occurs. An attacker with physical access can trigger such exceptions to access the debug interface, potentially extracting secret key material or achieving arbitrary code execution on the device.
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 dataall versionsall versionsCVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/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 modelLocate the device nameplate or log into the management interface to confirm the exact model number - look for 'Motorola Ebts Site Controller' or 'Motorola Mbts Site Controller'Affected if The device is a Motorola Ebts Site Controller or Motorola Mbts Site Controller (any firmware version)
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Locate serial ports on the devicePhysically inspect the device chassis for exposed serial (RS-232, DB-9, or similar) ports - typically located on the front or back panelAffected if Any serial ports are physically accessible on the device enclosure
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Verify serial port accessibilityCheck whether serial ports are in secured cabinets, locked rooms, or behind physical barriers that restrict unauthorized physical accessAffected if Serial ports can be accessed by unauthorized personnel without authentication or supervision
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Test for debug prompt behaviorConnect a serial console cable to the device serial port, observe boot messages, and intentionally trigger an unhandled error condition (such as disconnecting network cables or sending malformed input if administrative access exists) to observe if a debug shell appearsAffected if A debug prompt or shell becomes accessible via the serial port after triggering an error condition
You are affected if you have a Motorola Ebts Site Controller or Mbts Site Controller device with physically accessible serial ports that expose a debug interface when errors occur.
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 vendor firmware patches if available; otherwise, implement physical access controls to restrict serial port access and consider network segmentation to limit exposure.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,120.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-23774 — 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-2023-23774 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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