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Genian NacApplication · Genians

CVE-2023-40253

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-08-11
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 4.0.156 / 5.0.55 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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
Improper Authentication vulnerability in Genians Genian NAC V4.0, Genians Genian NAC V5.0, Genians Genian NAC Suite V5.0, Genians Genian ZTNA allows Authentication Abuse.This issue affects Genian NAC V4.0: from V4.0.0 through V4.0.155; Genian NAC V5.0: from V5.0.0 through V5.0.42 (Revision 117460); Genian NAC Suite V5.0: from V5.0.0 through V5.0.54; Genian ZTNA: from V6.0.0 through V6.0.15.

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

This is an improper authentication vulnerability in Genians Genian NAC and ZTNA products allowing authentication abuse. The flaw enables attackers to bypass or manipulate authentication mechanisms to gain unauthorized access to the network access control system.

MitigationApply available vendor patches to upgrade affected Genian NAC and ZTNA installations to patched versions beyond V4.0.155, V5.0.42, V5.0.54, and V6.0.15 respectively.

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
Genian NacApplication
Affected:>= 4.0.0, < 4.0.156>= 5.0.0, < 5.0.55= 5.0.42
Genian ZtnaApplication
Affected:>= 6.0.0, < 6.0.16

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
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify installed Genian product
    Inspect your environment for Genians Genian NAC or Genian ZTNA installations. Check for related services, installed packages, or application listings that indicate these products are present.
    Affected if Either Genian NAC or Genian ZTNA is installed in the environment
  2. Determine Genian NAC version
    Locate the version information for the Genian NAC installation. This may be accessible through the product management console, about page, installed package information, or system inventory records.
    Affected if The installed version is >= 4.0.0 and < 4.0.156, or >= 5.0.0 and < 5.0.55, or exactly 5.0.42
  3. Determine Genian ZTNA version
    Locate the version information for the Genian ZTNA installation. This may be accessible through the product management console, about page, installed package information, or system inventory records.
    Affected if The installed version is >= 6.0.0 and < 6.0.16
  4. Verify authentication module exposure
    Confirm whether the authentication component or management interface of the Genian product is accessible from the network. Check firewall rules, access controls, and interface bindings.
    Affected if The authentication interface is network-accessible from untrusted zones

You are affected if you have Genian NAC version 4.0.0 through 4.0.155, 5.0.0 through 5.0.41, 5.0.42, or 5.0.43 through 5.0.54, or Genian ZTNA version 6.0.0 through 6.0.15 installed with exposed authentication interfaces.

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 4.0.156 / 5.0.55 / 6.0.16 or later
Fixed in 4.0.1565.0.556.0.16
Interim mitigation

Apply available vendor patches to upgrade affected Genian NAC and ZTNA installations to patched versions beyond V4.0.155, V5.0.42, V5.0.54, and V6.0.15 respectively.

Recommended fix High confidence

Genian NAC V4.0: upgrade to 4.0.156+ | Genian NAC V5.0: upgrade to 5.0.55+ | Genian ZTNA V6.0: upgrade to 6.0.16+

  1. 1. Identify the currently installed Genian product (NAC or ZTNA) and verify the exact version using the system administration console or CLI
  2. 2. For Genian NAC V4.x: Plan upgrade to version 4.0.156 or later
  3. 3. For Genian NAC V5.x: Plan upgrade to version 5.0.55 or later
  4. 4. For Genian ZTNA V6.x: Plan upgrade to version 6.0.16 or later
  5. 5. Review upgrade prerequisites in official Genian documentation at docs.genians.com
  6. 6. Perform a backup of the current configuration
  7. 7. Execute the upgrade following vendor-approved upgrade procedures
  8. 8. Verify the new version is running and the web interface is accessible
Caveat Review release notes for any configuration or feature changes between your current version and the target version before upgrading

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

Fix this in Genian Nac Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
13.0 hours of engineering $2,280
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,648.

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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-2023-40253 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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