Manageengine Network Configuration ManagerApplication · Zohocorp

CVE-2023-29505

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-08-04
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
95/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges

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 issue was discovered in Zoho ManageEngine Network Configuration Manager 12.6.165. The WebSocket endpoint allows Cross-site WebSocket hijacking.

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 WebSocket endpoint in Zoho ManageEngine Network Configuration Manager 12.6.165 lacks proper origin validation during the WebSocket handshake, allowing attackers to initiate cross-site WebSocket connections and hijack authenticated sessions. This Cross-site WebSocket Hijacking (CSWSH) vulnerability enables unauthorized actions on behalf of legitimate users.

MitigationImplement strict origin validation in the WebSocket handshake process and include CSRF token verification for WebSocket upgrade requests to prevent cross-site hijacking.

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
Manageengine Network Configuration ManagerApplication
Affected:= 12.6

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
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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 the installed version of Network Configuration Manager
    Locate the product installation directory and check the version file or about page within the ManageEngine Network Configuration Manager application interface
    Affected if The installed version is 12.6 or specifically 12.6.165
  2. Verify the WebSocket endpoint is accessible
    Attempt to access the WebSocket endpoint by navigating to the application's web interface and observing if WebSocket connections are established for real-time features
    Affected if WebSocket functionality is enabled and the application accepts WebSocket upgrade requests
  3. Confirm the product is exposed over the network
    Determine if the Network Configuration Manager web interface is accessible from network locations (check if it binds to non-localhost interfaces)
    Affected if The application is accessible remotely, allowing cross-origin WebSocket connections to be initiated from external sites
  4. Test for missing origin validation in WebSocket handshake
    Send a WebSocket upgrade request with an arbitrary Origin header (e.g., Origin: http://attacker.com) to the WebSocket endpoint and observe if the server accepts the handshake without rejecting the foreign origin
    Affected if The server accepts WebSocket connections from arbitrary origins without validating them
  5. Check authentication mechanisms on WebSocket endpoints
    Examine whether authenticated sessions can be hijacked by initiating a WebSocket connection from a malicious page while a user has an active session cookie
    Affected if The WebSocket endpoint inherits the user's authenticated session without additional CSRF token verification

A user is affected if they are running Network Configuration Manager version 12.6 (specifically 12.6.165) with the WebSocket interface accessible and the server accepts WebSocket handshakes from arbitrary origins without origin validation.

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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Implement strict origin validation in the WebSocket handshake process and include CSRF token verification for WebSocket upgrade requests to prevent cross-site hijacking.

Fix this in Manageengine Network Configuration Manager Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
15.0 hours of engineering $2,640
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2023-29505 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
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