CVE-2023-28354
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 · uneditedAn issue was discovered in Opsview Monitor Agent 6.8. An unauthenticated remote attacker can call check_nrpe against affected targets, specifying known NRPE plugins, which in default installations are configured to accept command control characters and pass them to command-line interpreters for NRPE plugin execution. This allows the attacker to escape NRPE plugin execution and execute commands remotely on the target as NT_AUTHORITY\SYSTEM.
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 confidenceOpsview Monitor Agent 6.8 contains a command injection vulnerability in its NRPE (Nagios Remote Plugin Executor) component. Unauthenticated remote attackers can send specially crafted requests to the NRPE service with command control characters that bypass plugin execution boundaries and get passed directly to the Windows command interpreter, allowing arbitrary code execution as NT_AUTHORITY\SYSTEM.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
CVSS 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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Confirm Opsview Monitor Agent installationCheck if Opsview Monitor Agent is installed on the system. On Windows, look for the opsview service via 'Get-Service | Where-Object {$_.DisplayName -like "*Opsview*"}' or check Program Files for opsview directories.Affected if Opsview Monitor Agent is present on the system
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Identify Opsview versionDetermine the installed Opsview Monitor Agent version. Check the application version through its binary properties, registry entries, or the Programs and Features list. Compare against the affected version 6.8.Affected if Installed version is 6.8 or earlier
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Verify NRPE service is activeCheck if the NRPE (Nagios Remote Plugin Executor) service is running. On Windows, run 'Get-Service -Name nrpe' or check if port 5666 (default NRPE port) is listening via 'netstat -an | findstr 5666'.Affected if NRPE service is running and listening on its port
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Examine NRPE configuration for command argument handlingLocate and review the nrpe.cfg configuration file (typically in the Opsview agent etc directory). Search for directives like 'dont_blame_nrpe' or any command definitions that permit arguments.Affected if NRPE is configured to accept commands with arguments (dont_blame_nrpe=1 or similar)
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Assess NRPE network exposureReview firewall rules and network configuration to determine if the NRPE port is accessible from untrusted network segments. Check if NRPE port 5666 is bound to non-localhost interfaces.Affected if NRPE port is accessible from untrusted networks or bound to external interfaces
A system is affected if Opsview Monitor Agent version 6.8 is installed with NRPE service running and accessible, especially if NRPE accepts command arguments or is exposed to untrusted networks.
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 dataRestrict NRPE to only accept pre-defined commands without arguments, disable command variable handling in nrpe.cfg, apply vendor patches, and firewall NRPE ports from untrusted networks.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-28354 — 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-2023-28354 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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