CVE-2023-5447
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 · uneditedMissing lock check in SynHsaService may create a use-after-free condition which causes abnormal termination of the service, resulting in denial of service for the Synaptics Hardware Support App.
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 confidenceA missing lock check in SynHsaService creates a race condition that can lead to a use-after-free vulnerability, allowing an attacker to cause abnormal service termination and denial of service for the Synaptics Hardware Support App.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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.
-
Confirm SynHsaService is installedOpen Services (services.msc) or run 'sc query SynHsaService' in Command Prompt to check if the Synaptics Hardware Support App service exists on the systemAffected if The SynHsaService is present and running on the system
-
Check if service is currently runningRun 'sc query SynHsaService' or look in Task Manager for processes related to Synaptics (e.g., SynHsa.exe, SynTPEnhService.exe)Affected if The SynHsaService is actively running, making it exploitable if the vulnerability exists in the installed version
-
Verify installed Synaptics app versionOpen Programs and Features (appwiz.cpl) or check the installation folder (typically C:\Program Files\Synaptics\Synaptics Hardware Support App) for version informationAffected if The installed version is unpatched and falls within any vulnerable version range (compare against vendor release notes for CVE-2023-5447 fixes)
-
Review application event logs for service crashesOpen Event Viewer, navigate to Windows Logs > Application, and filter for Source 'SynHsaService' or events indicating service termination failuresAffected if Event logs show unexpected service terminations, error events related to use-after-free, or abnormal exits since the vulnerability disclosure date
-
Check for recent process anomaliesReview Task Manager history or Windows Reliability History for repeated crashes of Synaptics-related processes, particularly SynHsa.exeAffected if There is a pattern of unexplained service or process restarts indicating instability consistent with the race condition vulnerability
The system is affected if SynHsaService is installed and running, and event logs or process history show signs of instability or crashes related to the service since the vulnerability disclosure.
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 the vendor-supplied patch when released; in the interim, monitor service stability and restrict access to trusted personnel to reduce exposure to potential exploit attempts.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,248.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-5447 — 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-2023-5447 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
Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.
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.
- 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