CVE-2023-44120
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 in Spectrum Power 7 (All versions < V23Q4). The affected product's sudo configuration permits the local administrative account to execute several entries as root user. This could allow an authenticated local attacker to inject arbitrary code and gain root access.
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 confidenceSpectrum Power 7 versions before V23Q4 contain a sudo configuration vulnerability where the local administrative account has excessive sudo permissions allowing execution of arbitrary commands as root. An authenticated local attacker can leverage these permissive sudo entries to inject and execute code with root privileges, achieving full system compromise.
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< 23q4CVSS 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:3.1/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 the installed Spectrum Power 7 versionUse the system management interface or command line tool to query the installed version of Siemens Spectrum Power 7. Look for version strings indicating the release quarter and year (for example, V23Q3, V23Q2).Affected if The installed version is any release before V23Q4 (for example, V23Q3, V23Q2, V22Q4, or earlier).
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Locate the administrative account used for Spectrum Power 7Identify the local administrative account configured for Spectrum Power 7 administration by reviewing system documentation, user configuration files, or by querying the system user database for accounts with administrative privileges related to the product.Affected if The system has a local administrative account configured for Spectrum Power 7 administration.
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Examine sudo configuration for the administrative accountRun 'sudo -l -U <administrative_account>' to list all sudo permissions granted to the administrative account. Alternatively, inspect the /etc/sudoers file or any included configuration files in /etc/sudoers.d/ for entries referencing the administrative account.Affected if The sudo configuration shows entries that permit execution of any command (for example, 'ALL=(ALL) ALL', 'NOPASSWD: ALL', or wildcard patterns like '/bin/*') rather than limiting to specific documented administration commands.
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Verify if arbitrary command execution as root is possibleAs the administrative account, attempt to execute an unrelated command via sudo that is not required for administration (for example, 'sudo whoami' or 'sudo cat /etc/shadow') to confirm whether root privileges can be obtained.Affected if The administrative account can successfully execute arbitrary commands as root via sudo without restriction to a documented command set.
A system is affected if it runs Spectrum Power 7 version before V23Q4 and the administrative account has unrestricted sudo permissions allowing execution of any command as root.
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 · scoped23q4
Restrict the administrative account's sudo permissions to only essential, documented commands required for legitimate administration, removing any entries that permit arbitrary command execution. Apply vendor patch V23Q4 or later when available.
Spectrum Power 7 V23Q4
- 1. Back up the current Spectrum Power 7 installation and configuration
- 2. Obtain the Spectrum Power 7 V23Q4 release from Siemens (via cert-portal.siemens.com or official Siemens support channels)
- 3. Review the V23Q4 release notes for any prerequisites or migration requirements
- 4. Install Spectrum Power 7 V23Q4 following the Siemens upgrade documentation
- 5. After upgrade, verify the sudo configuration has been corrected by reviewing /etc/sudoers or the sudoers.d directory for the administrative account
- 6. Confirm that the local administrative account can no longer execute arbitrary commands as root
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-44120 — 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-2023-44120 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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