CVE-2023-50236
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 Polarion ALM (All versions < V2404.0). The affected product is vulnerable due to weak file and folder permissions in the installation path. An attacker with local access could exploit this vulnerability to escalate privileges to NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM.
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 confidencePolarion ALM versions prior to V2404.0 contain weak file and folder permissions in the installation directory, allowing a local attacker with standard user access to modify executables or configuration files and escalate privileges to NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM.
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< 2404.0CVSS 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
- 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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Locate Polarion ALM installation directoryCheck common installation paths such as C:\Program Files\Siemens\Polarion or C:\Siemens\Polarion, or search for polarion.exe in the file system using 'where /r C:\ polarion.exe'Affected if Polarion ALM is installed in a non-standard location that cannot be found
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Determine installed Polarion ALM versionRight-click on polarion.exe in the installation directory, select Properties, and check the Details tab for the File Version. Alternatively, check the README.txt or version.info file typically found in the installation root.Affected if The version shown is earlier than 2404.0 (for example, 2304.x, 2204.x, or any version below V2404.0)
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Verify permissions on installation folderOpen Command Prompt as the current user (not administrator), navigate to the Polarion installation directory, and run 'icacls .' to list folder permissions. Then test write access by attempting to create a test file: 'echo test > test_write_access.txt'Affected if The output shows that standard users (Authenticated Users, Users group, or the current user) have Modify or Full Control permissions on the installation directory or its subfolders containing executables (.exe) or configuration files (.xml, .properties, .config)
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Check permissions on executables and config filesRun 'icacls *.exe' and 'icacls *.xml' from the Polarion installation directory to specifically check permissions on executable and configuration files.Affected if Standard users are granted Modify or Full Control permissions on .exe or .xml files in the installation directory
A user is affected if Polarion ALM version is below 2404.0 AND standard user accounts have write/modify permissions on executables or configuration files in the installation directory.
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 · scoped2404.0
Upgrade to Polarion ALM V2404.0 or later which implements proper permission hardening on installation path files and folders.
2404.0
- Upgrade Polarion ALM to version 2404.0 or later to resolve the weak file and folder permissions vulnerability.
- Verify that after upgrade, the installation directory and its subdirectories have appropriate restricted permissions.
- Confirm that the NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM privilege escalation vector is no longer exploitable by testing from a low-privilege local account.
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-50236 — 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-2023-50236 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
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data