dbcve.org
AleosOperating system · Sierrawireless

CVE-2023-38321

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-12-25
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 4.17.0.12 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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
OpenNDS, as used in Sierra Wireless ALEOS before 4.17.0.12 and other products, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (NULL pointer dereference, daemon crash, and Captive Portal outage) via a GET request to /opennds_auth/ that lacks a custom query string parameter and client-token.

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 confidence

OpenNDS captive portal software contains a NULL pointer dereference vulnerability when processing GET requests to /opennds_auth/ without required custom query string parameters and client-token. Remote unauthenticated attackers can crash the daemon, causing complete captive portal outage.

MitigationUpgrade Sierra Wireless ALEOS to version 4.17.0.12 or later to obtain the patched OpenNDS version. If upgrading is not immediately feasible, consider network-level filtering to restrict access to the /opennds_auth/ endpoint from untrusted sources.

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
AleosOperating system
Affected:< 4.17.0.12

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
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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. Confirm Sierra Wireless Aleos is deployed
    Identify if the target device or system is running Sierra Wireless Aleos firmware. This is typically found in device documentation, management interface, or by checking the system information page of the captive portal.
    Affected if The device is confirmed to be running Sierra Wireless Aleos firmware.
  2. Determine installed Aleos version
    Access the device's admin interface or use AT commands (such as ATI3) to retrieve the firmware version. Compare the version number against the affected range.
    Affected if The installed Aleos version is below 4.17.0.12 (for example, 4.16.x.x or earlier).
  3. Verify OpenNDS captive portal is accessible
    Check if the device exposes a captive portal interface. Attempt to access the default gateway IP or the /opennds_auth/ endpoint from a client device connected to the network.
    Affected if OpenNDS captive portal is active and responds to HTTP requests on the network interface.
  4. Confirm /opennds_auth/ endpoint is exposed
    Send a GET request to http://[gateway IP]/opennds_auth/ without any query string parameters or client-token. A vulnerable system will crash (return no response or connection failure).
    Affected if The /opennds_auth/ endpoint is reachable from an untrusted network and responds to malformed requests, or the daemon becomes unresponsive after such a request.

The environment is affected if the device runs Sierra Wireless Aleos firmware version lower than 4.17.0.12 and has the OpenNDS captive portal service exposed to network clients.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 4.17.0.12 or later
Fixed in 4.17.0.12
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Sierra Wireless ALEOS to version 4.17.0.12 or later to obtain the patched OpenNDS version. If upgrading is not immediately feasible, consider network-level filtering to restrict access to the /opennds_auth/ endpoint from untrusted sources.

Recommended fix High confidence

Aleos 4.17.0.12 or later

  1. Identify the current Aleos firmware version running on the Sierra Wireless device
  2. Download Aleos firmware version 4.17.0.12 or later from the official Sierra Wireless source
  3. Follow the standard Aleos firmware upgrade procedure per Sierra Wireless documentation
  4. After upgrade, verify the OpenNDS service is running correctly
  5. Test captive portal functionality to confirm the service is operational

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Aleos Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,240
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,984.

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-2023-38321 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data