Nginx Api Connectivity ManagerWeb server / proxy · F5
CVE-2023-28656
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 · uneditedNGINX Management Suite may allow an authenticated attacker to gain access to configuration objects outside of their assigned environment. Note: Software versions which have reached End of Technical Support (EoTS) are not evaluated.
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 confidenceNGINX Management Suite contains an authorization bypass vulnerability where an authenticated user can access configuration objects outside of their assigned environment scope. This represents a security boundary violation where the tenant/environment isolation mechanism can be circumvented.
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
Nginx Api Connectivity ManagerWeb server / proxy
>= 1.0.0, < 1.5.0
Nginx Instance ManagerWeb server / proxy
>= 2.0.0, < 2.9.0
Nginx Security MonitoringWeb server / proxy
>= 1.0.0, < 1.3.0all 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
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
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 installed Nginx Management Suite productRun 'nginx-manager version' or check the installed RPM/DEB package name. Common components are: nginx-management-suite (base), nginx-instance-manager, nginx-api-connectivity-manager, nginx-security-monitoringAffected if The product name matches one of the affected components listed in the CVE
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Check installed version against affected rangesExecute the version command for your product: 'nginx-management-suite --version' or check /var/log/nginx-management-suite/version 2>/dev/null. Compare your version number to: Api Connectivity Manager < 1.5.0, Instance Manager < 2.9.0, Security Monitoring < 1.3.0Affected if The installed version falls within the affected range (for F5 products) or is any version (for NetApp Cloud Backup and Ontap Select Deploy)
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Verify multi-tenant or environment isolation is configuredCheck if the system uses tenants, environments, or workspaces by examining the management interface configuration at /etc/nginx-management-suite/ or the API endpoint /api/v1/settings. Look for multiple tenant or workspace definitions in the configuration databaseAffected if Multiple tenants or environments are defined and users are assigned to specific scopes
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Confirm user role assignments include environment restrictionsQuery the NMS API or admin interface for user role bindings. Use: GET /api/v1/access-control/roles and review role definitions for 'environment' or 'workspace' scope restrictionsAffected if Users have assigned environment scopes but the scope can be bypassed to access objects outside their assigned environment
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Test for cross-environment access capabilityAs an authenticated user with restricted environment scope, attempt to GET configuration objects from a different environment identifier. For example: curl -k -u user https://localhost:8080/api/v1/environments/<other-env-id>/configsAffected if The API returns configuration objects from environments other than the user's assigned scope, indicating the authorization bypass is present
You are affected if you are running any version of F5 Nginx Api Connectivity Manager < 1.5.0, Instance Manager < 2.9.0, Security Monitoring < 1.3.0, or any version of NetApp Cloud Backup or Ontap Select Deploy, and you have multi-tenant environment isolation configured that could be bypassed.
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 · scoped1.3.01.5.02.9.0
Apply the vendor patch from F5 for NGINX Management Suite; ensure environment isolation controls are functioning correctly after deployment.
Nginx Api Connectivity Manager: 1.5.0 | Nginx Instance Manager: 2.9.0 | Nginx Security Monitoring: 1.3.0
- For Nginx Api Connectivity Manager: Upgrade to version 1.5.0 or later
- For Nginx Instance Manager: Upgrade to version 2.9.0 or later
- For Nginx Security Monitoring: Upgrade to version 1.3.0 or later
- For Cloud Backup and Ontap Select Deploy: Contact F5 Networks or NetApp directly for patches, as all versions are affected and no fixed version is specified in the advisory
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Fix this in Nginx Api Connectivity Manager
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 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 $2,752.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-28656 — 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-2023-28656 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
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