CVE-2023-38042
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 · uneditedA local privilege escalation vulnerability in Ivanti Secure Access Client for Windows allows a low privileged user to execute code as SYSTEM.
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 Ivanti Secure Access Client for Windows enables an authenticated low-privileged user to gain SYSTEM-level access, allowing arbitrary code execution with the highest privileges on the affected Windows system.
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< 22.7CVSS 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:3.0/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 Ivanti Secure Access Client is installedOpen Programs and Features in Windows Control Panel or run 'Get-ItemProperty HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\* | Select-Object DisplayName, DisplayVersion' to list installed software and look for 'Ivanti Secure Access Client'Affected if The software appears in the installed programs list
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Locate the client executable and retrieve its versionSearch for 'ISASClient.exe' or 'Ivanti Secure Access Client.exe' in Program Files folders (typically C:\Program Files\Ivanti\ or C:\Program Files (x86)\Ivanti\), right-click the executable, select Properties, and check the Details tab for the Product VersionAffected if The executable exists and shows a version number
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Compare installed version against the affected rangeCompare the found version number to 22.7 - note that versions below 22.7 (such as 22.6.x, 22.5.x, earlier releases) are affected; versions 22.7 and above are not vulnerableAffected if The installed version is lower than 22.7 (for example, 22.6.1, 22.5.0, or any release prior to 22.7)
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Verify the client service is presentOpen Services.msc and look for a service named 'Ivanti Secure Access Client' or 'ISAService' to confirm the client is actively installed as a Windows serviceAffected if The service exists, indicating the vulnerable software is deployed on this system
A system is affected if Ivanti Secure Access Client is installed with a version number lower than 22.7, as only versions prior to 22.7 contain the privilege escalation flaw.
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 · scoped22.7
Apply the vendor-provided security update for Ivanti Secure Access Client to remediate this vulnerability; ensure the patch is deployed across all affected Windows endpoints.
Ivanti Secure Access Client 22.7 or later
- 1. Identify the current version of Ivanti Secure Access Client installed on affected Windows systems by checking 'Add or Remove Programs' or running 'lsclient.exe --version' if available
- 2. Download Ivanti Secure Access Client version 22.7 or later from the official Ivanti download portal or your licensed distribution channel
- 3. Ensure you have appropriate administrative privileges to perform the upgrade
- 4. Backup the current configuration if applicable
- 5. Install the updated version (22.7 or later) with elevated privileges
- 6. Verify the installation completed successfully and the new version is reflected in Add/Remove Programs
- 7. Restart the Ivanti Secure Access Client service if not automatically restarted
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-38042 — 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-2023-38042 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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