CVE-2023-33990
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 · uneditedSAP SQL Anywhere - version 17.0, allows an attacker to prevent legitimate users from accessing the service by crashing the service. An attacker with low privileged account and access to the local system can write into the shared memory objects. This can be leveraged by an attacker to perform a Denial of Service. Further, an attacker might be able to modify sensitive data in shared memory objects.This issue only affects SAP SQL Anywhere on Windows. Other platforms are not impacted.
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 confidenceIn SAP SQL Anywhere 17.0 on Windows, an attacker with low-privileged account and local system access can write into shared memory objects, causing the service to crash (Denial of Service). The attacker may also be able to modify sensitive data in these shared memory objects.
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= 17.0CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Confirm SAP SQL Anywhere 17.0 is installedCheck Windows installed programs list via 'Programs and Features' or query registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall for entries containing 'SQL Anywhere' or 'Sap SQL Anywhere'Affected if An entry exists showing SQL Anywhere version 17.0 (exact version 17.0.0) is installed on Windows
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Verify the running SQL Anywhere serviceOpen Services console (services.msc) and locate any service related to 'SQL Anywhere' or 'dbsrv17' and check its status. Alternatively, run 'sc query type= service' to list services and look for SQL Anywhere processesAffected if A SQL Anywhere database service (typically named 'SQL Anywhere 17' or similar) is running on the system
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Identify shared memory objects created by SQL AnywhereUse Sysinternals tools (WinObj or Process Explorer) to view named objects in the 'BaseNamedObjects' or 'Sessions\1\BaseNamedObjects' namespace. Look for objects with prefixes used by SQL Anywhere such as 'SA' or 'SYB' or objects owned by the SQL Anywhere service processAffected if Shared memory objects (file mapping objects or sections) created by the SQL Anywhere service are present on the system
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Check permissions on SQL Anywhere shared memory objectsUse Sysinternals 'AccessChk' or 'Process Explorer' to examine the security descriptor of identified SQL Anywhere shared memory objects. Check if the 'Users' group or low-privileged accounts have write (FILE_WRITE_DATA) or full control permissionsAffected if Non-admin users or the 'Users' group have write or full control permissions to the shared memory objects used by SQL Anywhere service
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Test write access to shared memory objectsAttempt to open an identified SQL Anywhere shared memory object with write access using PowerShell (Get-ItemProperty on \BaseNamedObjects\) or a simple program that requests SECTION_MAP_WRITE access. If OpenFileMapping or CreateFileMapping succeeds, write access existsAffected if A low-privileged user account can successfully open and write to the shared memory objects belonging to the SQL Anywhere service
The environment is affected if SAP SQL Anywhere version 17.0 (exact version) is installed on Windows and the shared memory objects it creates are writable by low-privileged users, allowing potential service crash or data tampering.
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.
From vendor dataApply SAP security patches for SQL Anywhere 17.0. Restrict local system access and harden Windows permissions on shared memory objects to prevent unauthorized write access.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 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 $3,168.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-33990 — 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-2023-33990 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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- 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
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