CVE-2023-46142
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 incorrect permission assignment for critical resource vulnerability in PLCnext products allows an remote attacker with low privileges to gain full access on the affected devices.
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 confidenceThis is an incorrect permission assignment vulnerability in Phoenix Contact PLCnext industrial control products. Attackers with low-privilege remote access can escalate to full administrative control due to improper access control enforcement on critical system resources.
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<= 2024.0<= 2024.0<= 2024.0<= 2024.0<= 2024.0<= 2024.0<= 2024.0<= 2024.0CVSS 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
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/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 device modelAccess the PLCnext web interface or use SSH to connect to the device and retrieve the model identifier from the system information or device status pageAffected if The device model is one of: Axc F 1152, Axc F 2152, Axc F 3152, Bpc 9102s, Epc 1502, Epc 1522, Rfc 4072r, or Plcnext Engineer software
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Check the installed firmware versionLog into the PLCnext web interface and navigate to System > Firmware or use the command line 'plcncli version' or check '/etc/version' file via SSH to determine the exact firmware version installedAffected if The firmware version is <= 2024.0 (for hardware devices) or <= 2024.0 for Plcnext Engineer software
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Verify remote access configurationCheck the PLCnext web interface under Settings > Users or Settings > Access Control to identify if remote access is enabled and which authentication methods are configuredAffected if Remote access is enabled for low-privilege users without proper admin privilege enforcement
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Review user privilege assignmentsNavigate to User Management in the PLCnext interface and enumerate all user accounts and their assigned roles, noting any non-admin accounts with remote access permissionsAffected if Low-privilege users have remote access permissions that could be exploited for privilege escalation
Your environment is affected if you are running any of the listed Phoenix Contact products with firmware or software version 2024.0 or lower, and low-privilege remote access is enabled on the device.
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 dataApply vendor-supplied firmware updates and security patches for PLCnext devices; review and enforce least-privilege access controls on affected systems.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation12.0 h
- Testing16.0 h
- Review / QA8.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $12,160.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-46142 — 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-2023-46142 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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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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