CVE-2023-24574
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 · uneditedDell Enterprise SONiC OS, 3.5.3, 4.0.0, 4.0.1, 4.0.2, contains an "Uncontrolled Resource Consumption vulnerability" in authentication component. An unauthenticated remote attacker could potentially exploit this vulnerability, leading to uncontrolled resource consumption by creating permanent home directories for unauthenticated users.
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 · moderate confidenceThe authentication component in Dell Enterprise SONiC OS versions 3.5.3 through 4.0.2 contains an uncontrolled resource consumption vulnerability where an unauthenticated remote attacker can cause permanent home directories to be created for non-existent users, leading to disk space exhaustion over time.
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>= 3.5.3, < 4.0.3CVSS 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
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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 the installed Dell Enterprise SONiC OS versionRun 'show version' or 'sonic-cfggen -y /etc/sonic/sonic_version.yml -v build_version' to retrieve the running OS versionAffected if The version is >= 3.5.3 and < 4.0.3
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Enumerate home directories on the systemList contents of /home/ and any other locations where home directories may be created (e.g., /var/home). Run 'ls -la /home/' and check for directories belonging to unexpected or non-existent usernamesAffected if There are home directories for users that do not exist in the system's user database (verify with 'getent passwd <username>')
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Review disk usage for unusual consumptionRun 'df -h' to check disk space usage, then use 'du -sh /home/*' to identify abnormally large or growing home directory usageAffected if Disk space is significantly consumed by /home or similar directories, especially if the usage does not correspond to legitimate user accounts
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Audit authentication logs for the vulnerability patternExamine /var/log/auth.log or equivalent SONiC authentication logs for repeated authentication attempts that may be creating home directories. Look for patterns of failed or spurious auth events coinciding with directory creationAffected if Logs show home directory creation events for users that are not recognized system accounts
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Cross-reference home directories with valid system usersCompare the list of home directory owners against the output of 'getent passwd' or 'cat /etc/passwd' to identify orphaned home directoriesAffected if Home directories exist for users not listed in the system's user database
A system is likely affected if it runs Dell Enterprise SONiC OS version 3.5.3 through 4.0.2 and contains home directories for unrecognized or non-existent users, indicating exploitation of the uncontrolled resource consumption flaw.
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.
dbcve · scoped4.0.3
Apply vendor-provided patches for Dell Enterprise SONiC OS and implement monitoring for abnormal home directory creation patterns and disk usage alerts.
4.0.3
- Schedule a maintenance window for the upgrade procedure
- Backup current configuration to ensure data preservation
- Download the Dell Enterprise SONiC OS version 4.0.3 or later from Dell support portal
- Upload the new OS image to the switch using the appropriate management interface
- Initiate the software installation following Dell Enterprise SONiC upgrade procedures
- Verify the upgrade completed successfully by checking the OS version
- Confirm normal operation of authentication services and verify no unauthorized home directories are being created
- Validate that all expected services are running correctly
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-24574 — 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-2023-24574 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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