CVE-2023-5970
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 · uneditedImproper authentication in the SMA100 SSL-VPN virtual office portal allows a remote authenticated attacker to create an identical external domain user using accent characters, resulting in an MFA bypass.
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 confidenceThe SMA100 SSL-VPN virtual office portal has improper authentication logic that fails to properly handle Unicode/accent characters in external domain usernames. An authenticated attacker can create a user account using visually identical accented characters (e.g., 'à' instead of 'a') that bypasses MFA because the system incorrectly treats it as the same as the legitimate user's account.
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<= 10.2.1.9-57sv<= 10.2.1.9-57sv<= 10.2.1.9-57sv<= 10.2.1.9-57sv<= 10.2.1.9-57svCVSS 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 SMA100 device model and firmware versionAccess the appliance administrative interface or run 'version' command via CLI to retrieve the firmware version. Compare against affected versions: 200, 210, 400, 410, and 500v models on firmware <= 10.2.1.9-57svAffected if The device is a SMA 200, 210, 400, 410, or 500v running firmware version 10.2.1.9-57sv or lower
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Verify external domain user creation is enabledCheck the SMA100 SSL-VPN configuration for 'External User' or 'Domain User' creation settings. Look for user import or user creation permissions in the virtual office portal settingsAffected if External or domain user creation is permitted on the device
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Audit existing user accounts for homograph Unicode charactersExport or list all user accounts from the SMA100 user database. Search for usernames containing accented characters (e.g., à, á, â, ä, ã, å, ç, é, è, ë) that visually resemble standard ASCII charactersAffected if Users exist with accented characters that could be visually identical to legitimate usernames (e.g., 'admin' vs 'àdmin')
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Review authentication logs for duplicate account accessExamine the SMA100 authentication and audit logs for entries showing the same username being authenticated from different source IP addresses simultaneously, or multiple failed MFA prompts for the same accountAffected if Logs show duplicate or conflicting authentication events for usernames that differ only in Unicode characters
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Check if MFA is configured for external usersReview the MFA settings for external/domain users in the SMA100 virtual office portal configuration. Determine whether MFA enforcement is enabled for these user typesAffected if MFA is not enforced or is bypassable for external domain users
The environment is likely affected if the device is a SMA 200/210/400/410/500v on firmware <= 10.2.1.9-57sv with external user creation enabled and no safeguards against homograph usernames exist.
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 dataImplement proper Unicode normalization and homograph detection in user creation/authentication flows to reject lookalike characters; verify all external user creation requests against existing accounts using normalized comparison.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation12.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $7,808.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-5970 — 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-2023-5970 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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