CVE-2023-7273
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 · uneditedCross site request forgery in Kiteworks OwnCloud allows an unauthenticated attacker to forge requests. If a request has no Authorization header, it is created with an empty string as value by a rewrite rule. The CSRF check is done by comparing the header value to null, meaning that the existing CSRF check is bypassed in this case. An attacker can, for example, create a new administrator account if the request is executed in the browser of an authenticated victim.
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 confidenceA CSRF bypass exists in Kiteworks OwnCloud where a rewrite rule creates an empty string for missing Authorization headers instead of leaving them absent. The CSRF check only validates against null, so it incorrectly passes when it receives an empty string, allowing unauthenticated attackers to forge requests like creating administrator accounts when executed in an authenticated victim's browser.
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
- Network
- Complexity
- High
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Confirm Kiteworks OwnCloud installationIdentify if the environment is running Kiteworks OwnCloud by checking for OwnCloud web interface, config files, or service processesAffected if The system is running Kiteworks OwnCloud
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Check for Authorization header rewrite configurationInspect web server configuration files (Apache .htaccess, nginx config, or reverse proxy rules) for rewrite rules that manipulate the Authorization header, particularly rules that set it to empty string when absentAffected if A rewrite rule transforms missing Authorization headers into empty string values (e.g., setting Authorization to empty when not present)
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Review CSRF validation implementationLocate the CSRF validation code in the OwnCloud application and examine the condition that checks the Authorization header - verify if it only checks for null/not-set rather than also checking for empty stringAffected if The CSRF check uses a condition like 'if (authHeader == null)' without also checking for empty string comparison
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Test Authorization header handlingSend a request to the OwnCloud endpoint with an explicitly empty Authorization header (Authorization: ) and observe whether the request bypasses CSRF protectionAffected if Requests with empty string Authorization headers successfully pass CSRF validation when they should be blocked
You are affected if your Kiteworks OwnCloud has a rewrite rule that converts missing Authorization headers to empty strings and the CSRF validation only checks for null values, allowing forged requests to succeed.
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 dataFix the CSRF validation logic to check for both null AND empty string values, or modify the rewrite rule to not add empty Authorization headers, then verify the bypass is eliminated.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing5.0 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 $4,752.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-7273 — 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-2023-7273 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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