Vulnerability in Shadow (CVE-2023-29383)
Summary
Vulnerability in Shadow (CVE-2023-29383). Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure.
Original description
The description as published by the source.
In Shadow 4.13, it is possible to inject control characters into fields provided to the SUID program chfn (change finger). Although it is not possible to exploit this directly (e.g., adding a new user fails because \n is in the block list), it is possible to misrepresent the /etc/passwd file when viewed. Use of \r manipulations and Unicode characters to work around blocking of the : character make it possible to give the impression that a new user has been added. In other words, an adversary may be able to convince a system administrator to take the system offline (an indirect, social-engineered denial of service) by demonstrating that "cat /etc/passwd" shows a rogue user account.
Source: GitHub Security Advisories (Global) NVD GitHub Advisory
Auto-generated summary
Assembled by SecPulse from the source data (CVSS, CWE, affected versions) using templates — no AI involved. Check the original description and references below for exact details.
A vulnerability tracked as CVE-2023-29383 has been found in Shadow.
Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure. CVSS score: 3.3/10.
What to do: apply the vendor's official patched release.
If unsure, ask your IT team or search "Shadow CVE-2023-29383" on the vendor's site.
CVE-2023-29383 (Shadow) — CWE-74 / CVSS v3 3.3
Attack vector: local / no user interaction
Plan: 1) Audit SBOM/dependencies, 2) Stage→prod upgrade, 3) Add WAF/proxy monitoring on affected endpoints, 4) Hunt IOCs in logs.
Refs: see the GHSA / vendor advisory / patched release linked on this page.
A vulnerability (CWE-74) exists in Shadow.
Check the vendor advisory for the affected versions of Shadow.
Severity: Low (CVSS 3.3/10). Risk of unauthorized operations or information disclosure.
Update to the patched release per vendor advisory.
Until the patch is applied: disable the affected feature, apply WAF rules, or restrict access via network ACLs.
Search webserver/proxy logs for unusual request patterns matching this CVE's known IOCs. Run grep -r 'Shadow' . against your dependency files (package-lock.json, requirements.txt, go.sum) to find affected services.
Response actions
Concrete steps and command examples for SOC/SRE teams to execute in order
-
1Identify exposure identify
grep -r 'Shadow' . | grep -v node_modulesリポジトリと本番環境の依存ファイル (package-lock.json / requirements.txt / go.sum / Gemfile.lock 等) で
Shadowを grep し、稼働しているサービス・バージョンを把握する。 -
2Post-deployment verification verify
Confirm patched version is live in productionパッチ適用後、ステージングで PoC または同等の悪用パターンを再現して脆弱性が閉じたことを確認。本番ではアクセスログ・WAF でアラート再発が無いか継続監視。
Fix status by distribution
Fixed packages published by each distribution for this CVE
- Debian DEBIAN-CVE-2023-29383 shadow Fixed in: 1:4.8.1-1+deb11u1
References
- exploit trustwave.com
- exploit trustwave.com
- issue github.com
- patch github.com
- web nvd.nist.gov
- web trustwave.com
- web lists.debian.org
- web cert-portal.siemens.com
- web cert-portal.siemens.com
- web github.com