CVE-2023-40060
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 vulnerability has been identified within Serv-U 15.4 and 15.4 Hotfix 1 that, if exploited, allows an actor to bypass multi-factor/two-factor authentication. The actor must have administrator-level access to Serv-U to perform this action. 15.4. SolarWinds found that the issue was not completely fixed in 15.4 Hotfix 1.
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 confidenceServ-U 15.4 and 15.4 Hotfix 1 contain an authentication bypass vulnerability where an authenticated administrator can circumvent multi-factor authentication (MFA/2FA) protections. The initial hotfix release did not fully resolve the issue, indicating the underlying authentication logic flaw persists.
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= 15.4.0CVSS 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
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/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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Confirm Serv-U installationCheck if the Serv-U service is running on the system. On Windows, run 'sc query Serv-U' or check Services.msc. On Linux, run 'ps aux | grep -i servu' or check for the servu process.Affected if Serv-U is not installed or not running.
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Identify installed Serv-U versionLocate the Serv-U version. On Windows, check the file properties of 'Serv-U.exe' in the installation directory (commonly C:\Program Files\SolarWinds\Serv-U\), or run 'Serv-U.exe -version' if supported. On Linux, check '/usr/local/serv-u/servu' or the installed package version.Affected if The installed version is 15.4.0 or 15.4 Hotfix 1 (or any version claiming to be 15.4.x before the complete fix).
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Check if MFA is enabledAccess the Serv-U admin console (typically via https://localhost:8880 or the configured admin port) and navigate to Users > Specific User > Authentication > Two-Factor Authentication, or inspect the Serv-U configuration files (such as servu.cfg or XML config files in the settings directory) for MFA-related settings.Affected if MFA/2FA is configured and enforced for administrator accounts.
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Verify admin account configurationIn the Serv-U admin console, review the administrator accounts under 'Users' or ' Administrators' to confirm the presence of administrative users that would be subject to MFA enforcement.Affected if Authenticated administrator accounts exist in Serv-U.
You are affected if Serv-U version 15.4.0 or 15.4 Hotfix 1 is installed AND MFA/2FA is enabled for administrator accounts, as the vulnerability allows those admins to bypass the MFA requirement.
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 the complete vendor fix from SolarWinds for Serv-U, ensuring the latest version or patch addressing the incomplete Hotfix 1 remediation is deployed to restore proper MFA enforcement.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing4.0 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 $3,968.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-40060 — 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-2023-40060 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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