CVE-2023-36923
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 SQLA for PowerDesigner 17 bundled with SAP PowerDesigner 16.7 SP06 PL03, allows an attacker with local access to the system, to place a malicious library, that can be executed by the application. An attacker could thereby control the behavior of the application.
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 confidenceA local privilege escalation vulnerability in SAP SQLA for PowerDesigner allows an attacker with physical or local system access to place a malicious library file in a location where the application will load it, enabling arbitrary code execution and control of application behavior.
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= 16.7CVSS 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
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify if SAP PowerDesigner is installedCheck system for PowerDesigner installation by searching for PowerDesigner executables or checking common installation directories (e.g., Program Files, Program Files (x86))Affected if PowerDesigner is found on the system
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Determine the installed PowerDesigner versionRight-click the PowerDesigner executable, select Properties, and view the Version tab; or run the application and check Help > AboutAffected if The version is exactly 16.7
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Verify presence of SQLA componentLook for SQLA-related files, directories, or services within the PowerDesigner installation folder; SQLA is the database connectivity componentAffected if SQLA is present in the PowerDesigner installation
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Identify writable library loading locationsCheck directories in the PowerDesigner installation path for world-writable permissions, particularly locations where DLL/shared library files are storedAffected if Any directory in the application path allows non-admin users to write files that could be loaded as libraries
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Check application privilege levelReview whether PowerDesigner runs with elevated privileges or as a service account with higher permissions than standard usersAffected if PowerDesigner executes with administrator or system-level privileges accessible to local users
The system is affected if PowerDesigner version 16.7 with SQLA component is installed and allows non-privileged local users to place malicious library files in application-accessible directories.
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 dataRestrict physical and local access to systems running PowerDesigner to trusted personnel only; implement application integrity verification and secure library loading practices to prevent unauthorized library execution.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,176.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-36923 — 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-2023-36923 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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