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CfengineApplication · Northern.tech

CVE-2023-45684

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-11-14
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 3.18.6 / 3.21.3 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
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
Northern.tech CFEngine Enterprise before 3.21.3 allows SQL Injection. The fixed versions are 3.18.6 and 3.21.3. The earliest affected version is 3.6.0. The issue is in the Mission Portal login page in the CFEngine hub.

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

CFEngine Enterprise versions 3.6.0 through 3.21.2 contain a SQL Injection vulnerability in the Mission Portal login page. An unauthenticated attacker can exploit this by injecting malicious SQL queries through login form inputs, potentially allowing unauthorized access to the database, data exfiltration, or manipulation.

MitigationUpgrade CFEngine Enterprise to version 3.18.6 or 3.21.3 to remediate this vulnerability. Alternatively, if immediate upgrade is not possible, consider implementing web application firewall (WAF) rules to filter SQL injection attempts on the login endpoint.

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
CfengineApplication
Affected:< 3.18.6>= 3.19.0, < 3.21.3

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
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/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 CFEngine Enterprise version
    Run command to retrieve the installed CFEngine Enterprise version (e.g., cf-promises --version, rpm -q cfengine-enterprise, or check /var/cfengine/CE/VERSION).
    Affected if The installed version falls within 3.6.0 to 3.21.2, specifically < 3.18.6 or >= 3.19.0 and < 3.21.3.
  2. Confirm Mission Portal is enabled
    Verify that the Mission Portal web interface is installed and running. Check for Apache/Nginx configuration files related to Mission Portal or inspect running web services on ports 80/443.
    Affected if Mission Portal is active and accessible on the network.
  3. Verify login page is exposed
    Access the Mission Portal login endpoint (typically / or /login) via HTTP/HTTPS to confirm the login form is reachable.
    Affected if The login page is publicly or internally accessible without additional authentication.
  4. Check Mission Portal configuration
    Inspect Mission Portal configuration files (commonly in /var/cfengine/enterprise/ or /opt/cfengine/enterprise/) to confirm the login module is enabled.
    Affected if The login functionality is enabled in the Mission Portal configuration.

Your environment is affected if CFEngine Enterprise versions 3.6.0 through 3.21.2 are installed with Mission Portal and its login page accessible.

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 3.18.6 / 3.21.3 or later
Fixed in 3.18.63.21.3
Interim mitigation

Upgrade CFEngine Enterprise to version 3.18.6 or 3.21.3 to remediate this vulnerability. Alternatively, if immediate upgrade is not possible, consider implementing web application firewall (WAF) rules to filter SQL injection attempts on the login endpoint.

Recommended fix High confidence

3.18.6 or 3.21.3 (either fixed version)

  1. Identify the current CFEngine version installed on the hub system
  2. Download the appropriate fixed version (3.18.6 or 3.21.3) from the official CFEngine repository or customer portal
  3. Review CFEngine upgrade documentation for your specific deployment type
  4. Schedule a maintenance window as upgrades to the hub may require brief service interruption
  5. Backup the CFEngine hub database and configuration files before proceeding
  6. Stop CFEngine services (cf-hub, cf-execd, cf-serverd)
  7. Upgrade CFEngine packages to the chosen fixed version
  8. Start CFEngine services and verify they are running
Caveat Standard upgrade considerations apply - test in non-production environment first, backup database before upgrade, some configuration changes may be needed between major version jumps

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

Fix this in Cfengine Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,490
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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-2023-45684 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