CVE-2023-44440
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 · uneditedAshlar-Vellum Lithium Uncontrolled Search Path Element Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. This vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected installations of Ashlar-Vellum Lithium. User interaction is required to exploit this vulnerability in that the target must visit a malicious page or open a malicious file. The specific flaw exists within the parsing of various file types. The process loads a library from an unsecured location. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to execute code in the context of the current process. . Was ZDI-CAN-21680.
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 confidenceThis is an uncontrolled search path element (DLL hijacking) vulnerability in Ashlar-Vellum Lithium. During file parsing, the application loads DLLs from an unsecured location (likely the same directory as the opened file or current working directory), allowing an attacker to place a malicious DLL that gets loaded with elevated privileges when a victim opens a specially crafted file.
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= 12.0.1204.68CVSS 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
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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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Verify installed Ashlar Lithium versionOpen Ashlar Lithium, then navigate to Help > About or check the application's version information in the program files directory. You can also check the executable properties of the main application file.Affected if The installed version is exactly 12.0.1204.68
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Check DLL search path configurationRun the application and monitor which directories it searches for DLLs using tools like Process Monitor (procmon.exe) from Sysinternals. Filter by the Ashlar Lithium process and look for DLL load operations.Affected if The application loads DLLs from the same directory as the opened file, current working directory, or other unsecured paths relative to the process
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Identify DLL loading behavior during file operationsOpen a test file in Ashlar Lithium while running Process Monitor. Look for LoadLibrary calls that reference DLLs located in directories outside the application installation folder.Affected if DLLs are being loaded from locations writable by other users or from the directory containing the opened file
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Check for presence of vulnerable DLL loadingExamine the application's configuration files or registry entries for DLL search path settings. Also verify if the application uses absolute paths when loading libraries.Affected if The application does not use full absolute paths for all DLL loading and allows loading from relative or current directory paths
A user is affected if they have Ashlar Lithium version 12.0.1204.68 installed and the application loads DLLs from unsecured paths during file parsing operations.
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 dataThe vendor should implement secure DLL loading by using full absolute paths for all library loading, removing . from the DLL search path, and/or using delayed loading with explicit path specifications. Users should avoid opening untrusted files until an official patch is released.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation16.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-44440 — 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-2023-44440 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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