CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2023-5978 — Freebsd Freebsd security vulnerability

High CVSS 7.5

In versions of FreeBSD 13-RELEASE before 13-RELEASE-p5, under certain circumstances the cap_net libcasper(3) service incorrectly validates that updated constraints are strictly subsets of the active constraints. When only a list of resolvable domain names was specified without setting any other limitations, an application could submit a new list of domains including include entries not previously listed. This could permit the application to resolve domain names that were previously restricted.

Severity
High
CVSS
7.5 (3.1)
Published
2023-11-08
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
operating-system
Weaknesses
CWE-269

Affected products

  • freebsd / freebsd
  • freebsd / freebsd / 13.2

Showing 2 representative product identities from 6 source matches. Confirm exact affected versions with the linked vendor and NVD evidence.

Matched remediation archetype

Privilege escalation and unsafe privilege management

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Check exposure

  • Map service accounts, operating-system identities, roles, capabilities, impersonation, set-user transitions, and administrative helper paths.
  • Determine whether untrusted users or lower-privilege processes can reach the affected transition or modify inputs it trusts.
  • Review file, socket, registry, device, job, container, and cloud-role permissions used before and after privilege changes.

Remediate safely

  • Apply the supported fix and redesign privileged operations as a minimal, authenticated, allowlisted interface.
  • Drop privileges before processing untrusted input, verify the drop succeeds, and remove unnecessary roles, capabilities, and write permissions.
  • Validate ownership and permissions at time of use and add explicit lower-to-higher privilege boundary tests.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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