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Skoda ConnectApplication · Skoda Auto

CVE-2023-28901

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-01-18
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
62/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
The Skoda Automotive cloud contains a Broken Access Control vulnerability, allowing remote attackers to obtain recent trip data, vehicle mileage, fuel consumption, average and maximum speed, and other information of Skoda Connect service users by specifying an arbitrary vehicle VIN number.

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 confidence

Skoda Connect cloud API lacks proper authorization validation, allowing any authenticated or unauthenticated user to access sensitive vehicle telemetry data (trip history, mileage, fuel consumption, speed metrics) by submitting any valid vehicle VIN. This is a classic Insecure Direct Object Reference (IDOR) / Broken Access Control vulnerability where the API trusts client-supplied vehicle identifiers without verifying ownership.

MitigationImplement server-side authorization checks to verify that the requesting user owns or has permission to access the specific vehicle before returning data. Require proper authentication and enforce attribute-based access control on all API endpoints exposing vehicle data.

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
Skoda ConnectApplication
Affected:all versions

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
Low
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/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 checks

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

  1. Confirm Skoda Connect account usage
    Log into the Skoda Connect portal or mobile app and verify active account status with at least one registered vehicle
    Affected if User has an active Skoda Connect account with a linked vehicle
  2. Check account-linked vehicles
    Navigate to the vehicle management section of Skoda Connect and list all vehicles registered to the account
    Affected if One or more vehicles are registered to the account
  3. Test API authorization with own vehicle
    Use browser developer tools or API client to capture a request to the telemetry/trip history endpoint while authenticated. Observe if the API returns data successfully for the registered vehicle
    Affected if API returns telemetry data for the user's own vehicle without errors
  4. Attempt unauthorized VIN access (defensive test)
    Using the captured API request structure, modify the vehicle identifier parameter to a different valid VIN (not owned by the account) and observe if the API returns data
    Affected if API returns telemetry data for a vehicle the user does not own - indicating the authorization flaw is present

A user is affected if they have an active Skoda Connect account and the API accepts requests with arbitrary VINs without validating vehicle ownership, allowing access to any vehicle's telemetry data.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Implement server-side authorization checks to verify that the requesting user owns or has permission to access the specific vehicle before returning data. Require proper authentication and enforce attribute-based access control on all API endpoints exposing vehicle data.

Recommended fix Low confidence
  1. This is a server-side vulnerability in Skoda Automotive's cloud infrastructure that cannot be remediated by end users.
  2. Users of Skoda Connect service cannot apply patches, upgrades, or configuration changes to address this vulnerability.
  3. Monitor Skoda official communications for any announcements regarding security updates to the Skoda Connect cloud service.
  4. Consider contacting Skoda customer support to inquire about the timeline for addressing this access control vulnerability.
  5. As a precautionary measure, avoid sharing vehicle VIN numbers publicly to minimize exposure to potential exploitation.

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

Fix this in Skoda Connect Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
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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-2023-28901 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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