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Unity Operating EnvironmentApplication · Dell

CVE-2023-43082

MEDIUM · 5.9 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-11-22
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.3.0.0.5.120 or later.
See remediation →
68/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
Dell Unity prior to 5.3 contains a 'man in the middle' vulnerability in the vmadapter component. If a customer has a certificate signed by a third-party public Certificate Authority, the vCenter CA could be spoofed by an attacker who can obtain a CA-signed certificate.

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 confidence

Dell Unity storage arrays prior to version 5.3 contain a man-in-the-middle vulnerability in the vmadapter component. When customers use certificates signed by third-party public Certificate Authorities, an attacker who obtains a valid CA-signed certificate could spoof the vCenter CA and intercept communications between the Unity system and vCenter.

MitigationUpgrade Dell Unity to version 5.3 or later to remediate the certificate validation vulnerability in the vmadapter component. Review and re-trust the appropriate certificate authorities post-upgrade.

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
Unity Operating EnvironmentApplication
Affected:< 5.3.0.0.5.120
Unity Xt Operating EnvironmentApplication
Affected:< 5.3.0.0.5.120
Unityvsa Operating EnvironmentApplication
Affected:< 5.3.0.0.5.120

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
High
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

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 Dell Unity model and version
    Access the Unity management interface (Unisphere or CLI) and retrieve the operating environment version. In Unisphere, go to Settings > About. In CLI, run 'version' or 'system version' command.
    Affected if The displayed version is earlier than 5.3.0.0.5.120 on Unity, Unity Xt, or Unityvsa models.
  2. Verify vmadapter component configuration
    Check if the vmadapter service is enabled and configured. In Unisphere, navigate to Hosts > ESXi Hosts or look for vCenter connection settings. In CLI, run 'vmadapter -show' or 'service -vmadapter' if available.
    Affected if The vmadapter service is configured and actively managing connections to vCenter.
  3. Confirm third-party CA certificate usage
    Examine the certificate configuration for vCenter connections. In Unisphere, go to Settings > Certificates or Settings > Security > Certificate Management. Look for CA certificates that are not Dell-signed internal CAs.
    Affected if The Unity system is using certificates signed by third-party public Certificate Authorities for vCenter communications.
  4. Review certificate trust store
    Inspect the list of trusted Certificate Authorities configured on the Unity array. Look for entries that indicate external/third-party CAs rather than Unity's internal CA.
    Affected if Third-party public CAs are present in the trusted certificate store for vmadapter communications.

The environment is affected if running a Dell Unity, Unity Xt, or Unityvsa version below 5.3.0.0.5.120 with the vmadapter component enabled and configured to use third-party CA-signed certificates for vCenter connections.

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 5.3.0.0.5.120 or later
Fixed in 5.3.0.0.5.120
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Dell Unity to version 5.3 or later to remediate the certificate validation vulnerability in the vmadapter component. Review and re-trust the appropriate certificate authorities post-upgrade.

Recommended fix High confidence

Unity Operating Environment 5.3.0.0.5.120, Unity Xt Operating Environment 5.3.0.0.5.120, Unityvsa Operating Environment 5.3.0.0.5.120

  1. 1. Identify the current Unity Operating Environment, Unity Xt Operating Environment, or Unityvsa version installed.
  2. 2. Schedule a maintenance window for the upgrade process.
  3. 3. Back up all critical data and configuration settings before proceeding.
  4. 4. Download the Unity Operating Environment version 5.3.0.0.5.120 (or later) from Dell Support website (support.dell.com).
  5. 5. Apply the upgrade following Dell Unity upgrade documentation - this typically involves uploading the upgrade bundle through the Unisphere web interface or CLI.
  6. 6. Verify the upgrade was successful by checking the system version in Unisphere.
  7. 7. Validate that the vmadapter certificate validation is functioning correctly after upgrade.
Caveat Standard Dell Unity upgrade - review release notes for any compatibility considerations

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

Fix this in Unity Operating Environment Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
20.0 hours of engineering $3,500
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,600.

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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-2023-43082 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