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Zscaler Internet Access Admin PortalApplication · Zscaler

CVE-2023-28801

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-08-31
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.2r or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
An Improper Verification of Cryptographic Signature in the SAML authentication of the Zscaler Admin UI allows a Privilege Escalation.This issue affects Admin UI: from 6.2 before 6.2r.

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 confidence

The vulnerability involves improper verification of cryptographic signatures in the SAML authentication flow of Zscaler Admin UI versions 6.2 before 6.2r, allowing an attacker to forge SAML assertions and escalate privileges to administrator access.

MitigationUpgrade Zscaler Admin UI to version 6.2r or later. If immediate upgrade is not possible, review SAML IdP configurations and implement additional validation controls on SAML assertions.

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
Zscaler Internet Access Admin PortalApplication
Affected:>= 6.2, < 6.2r

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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify Zscaler Admin UI installation
    Locate the Zscaler Internet Access Admin Portal in your environment - this is typically accessed via a web URL (often admin.zscaler.com or custom domain). Confirm this is the Zscaler ZIA Admin interface.
    Affected if You are running the Zscaler Internet Access Admin Portal in your environment.
  2. Determine Admin UI version
    Log into the Zscaler Admin UI and navigate to the Administration > System Administration > System Upgrade or similar version information page. Alternatively, check the login page source or the system settings for the current software version number.
    Affected if The installed version is 6.2.x (any version below 6.2r) - version 6.2 exactly is affected if not the 'r' (release) variant.
  3. Verify SAML authentication is enabled
    In the Admin UI, go to Administration > Authentication Settings or similar section to check if SAML (Single Sign-On) is configured as an authentication method for admin access.
    Affected if SAML authentication is enabled and configured for the admin portal - the vulnerability specifically exploits the SAML signature verification flaw.
  4. Check for administrator role assignments
    Review the Administration > Administrators or User Management section to identify which users have administrator-level privileges and how they authenticate (SAML-based vs local).
    Affected if SAML-authenticated users hold administrator roles - these accounts would be at risk of privilege escalation if the vulnerability is exploited.

You are affected if you are running Zscaler Internet Access Admin Portal version 6.2 (prior to 6.2r) with SAML authentication enabled.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 6.2r or later
Fixed in 6.2r
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Zscaler Admin UI to version 6.2r or later. If immediate upgrade is not possible, review SAML IdP configurations and implement additional validation controls on SAML assertions.

Recommended fix High confidence

6.2r

  1. Log in to the Zscaler Internet Access Admin Portal
  2. Navigate to Administration > Settings > System Upgrade or the appropriate upgrade section
  3. Verify current version is >= 6.2 and < 6.2r
  4. Initiate upgrade to version 6.2r or later
  5. Confirm upgrade completes successfully
  6. Verify the upgraded version is 6.2r or higher

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Zscaler Internet Access Admin Portal Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
20.0 hours of engineering $3,500
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,600.

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-28801 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data