CVE-2023-29868
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 · uneditedZammad 5.3.x (Fixed in 5.4.0) is vulnerable to Incorrect Access Control. An authenticated attacker with agent and customer roles could perform unauthorized changes on articles where they only have customer permissions.
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 confidenceZammad 5.3.x contains an Incorrect Access Control vulnerability where authenticated users holding both agent and customer roles can perform unauthorized modifications on articles they should only have customer-level (read-only) access to. This is a permission boundary issue where the system fails to properly enforce role-based access controls for dual-role users.
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>= 5.3.0, < 5.4.0CVSS 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
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/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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Check installed Zammad versionLog into the Zammad admin interface and navigate to System > Information, or run 'zammad --version' from the command line if you have server access. Compare the version number to the affected range: >= 5.3.0 and < 5.4.0Affected if The installed version falls within 5.3.0 through 5.3.x (anything less than 5.4.0)
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Identify dual-role user accountsIn the Zammad admin panel, go to Users > Users. For each user account, examine the assigned roles. Look specifically for accounts that have both the 'agent' role and the 'customer' role enabled simultaneouslyAffected if There exist user accounts that hold both agent and customer roles at the same time
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Verify article modification permissions for dual-role usersCreate or use a test customer ticket, then log in as a dual-role user (agent+customer). Attempt to modify or reply to an article on that ticket where the user is only the customer (not the agent). Check if the system allows modifications (reply, edit, delete) when it should only permit read accessAffected if Dual-role users can modify articles on tickets where they only have customer-level access, when they should be restricted to read-only
You are affected if your Zammad version is 5.3.x and you have user accounts that hold both agent and customer roles simultaneously, allowing those users to modify articles they should only read.
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 · scoped5.4.0
Upgrade to Zammad 5.4.0 or later. If immediate upgrade is not possible, review user role assignments and minimize the assignment of both agent and customer roles to the same user account.
5.4.0 or later
- Backup the Zammad database and application data before proceeding with any upgrade
- Confirm current Zammad version is >= 5.3.0 and < 5.4.0 using the admin interface or command line
- Upgrade Zammad to version 5.4.0 or later following the official upgrade documentation for your installation method (package, source, or Docker)
- After upgrade, verify the new version is running: check the admin interface or use the command line tool
- Test that the access control fix is working by confirming agents and customers can only modify articles they have proper permissions on
- Clear any application caches if needed per Zammad upgrade documentation
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-29868 — 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-2023-29868 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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