CVE-2023-25539
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 NetWorker 19.6.1.2, contains an OS command injection Vulnerability in the NetWorker client. A remote unauthenticated attacker could potentially exploit this vulnerability, leading to the execution of arbitrary OS commands on the application's underlying OS, with the privileges of the vulnerable application. This is a high severity vulnerability as the exploitation allows an attacker to take complete control of a system, so Dell recommends customers to upgrade at the earliest opportunity.
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 confidenceDell NetWorker 19.6.1.2 contains an OS command injection vulnerability in the NetWorker client component. A remote unauthenticated attacker can exploit this to execute arbitrary operating system commands on the underlying host with the privileges of the vulnerable application, potentially achieving full system compromise.
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< 19.7.0.4= 19.7.1CVSS 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 NetWorker installation and versionRun 'nsrversion -v' or check the NetWorker installation directory for version information. On Windows, check 'Program Files\Dell\NetWorker\nsr\version' or registry keys under 'HKLM\SOFTWARE\Dell\NetWorker'. On Linux/Unix, check '/opt/nsr/version' or use 'nsradmin -s localhost -p 7777 -c "show version"' if the service is running.Affected if The installed version is less than 19.7.0.4 or exactly equals 19.7.1
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Confirm the client component is presentCheck for the NetWorker client binaries and services. On Windows, look for 'nsrexecd' service or 'NWRCLIENT' registry entries. On Linux/Unix, check for /opt/nsr/bin/nsrexecd or ps aux | grep nsrexecd for the client daemon process.Affected if The NetWorker client component (nsrexecd daemon) is installed and running on the system
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Determine if client network services are exposedCheck if port 7937 (default nsrexecd port) or other NetWorker client ports are listening on network interfaces. Use 'netstat -an | grep 7937' or 'nmap -p 7937 <localhost/public IPs>' to identify exposed client services. Review firewall rules to determine if these ports are accessible from outside.Affected if The NetWorker client service is bound to a network-facing interface and is reachable from untrusted networks, enabling remote exploitation
Your environment is affected if NetWorker client is installed with version less than 19.7.0.4 or exactly 19.7.1, and the client component is network-accessible to remote attackers.
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 · scoped19.7.0.4
Dell recommends upgrading to the latest patched version of NetWorker at the earliest opportunity to remediate this vulnerability.
Upgrade to Dell NetWorker version 19.7.0.4 or later
- Identify the current Dell NetWorker version installed in the environment
- From Dell support or www.dell.com, obtain the Dell NetWorker 19.7.0.4 (or later) installation package
- Review Dell NetWorker upgrade documentation and release notes for prerequisites
- Plan upgrade during a maintenance window to minimize business impact
- Backup NetWorker configuration data and databases before upgrade
- Stop all NetWorker services on the server(s)
- Install NetWorker version 19.7.0.4 or newer following Dell's upgrade procedures
- Verify the upgrade was successful by checking the NetWorker version
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation4.0 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-2023-25539 — 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-2023-25539 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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