# CVE-2023-0524: Privilege escalation in Tenable.io, Tenable.sc, Nessus

> A malicious actor with sufficient permissions can modify environment variables to abuse a plugin and escalate privileges in Tenable products.

- **Severity:** High 8.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 1 Feb 2023
- **Updated:** 27 Mar 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-2r3h-3gcc-24g5

## What is CVE-2023-0524?

CVE-2023-0524 is a high-severity vulnerability in Tenable Nessus, published on 1 Feb 2023. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

As part of our Security Development Lifecycle, a potential privilege escalation issue was identified internally. This could allow a malicious actor with sufficient permissions to modify environment variables and abuse an impacted plugin in order to escalate privileges. We have resolved the issue and also made several defense-in-depth fixes alongside. While the probability of successful exploitation is low, Tenable is committed to securing our customers’ environments and our products. The updates have been distributed via the Tenable plugin feed in feed serial numbers equal to or greater than #202212212055.

Weakness: CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-0524?

It affects 3 products.


Products: Tenable Nessus, Tenable Tenable.io, Tenable Tenable.sc.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-0524?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-0524 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-0524 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-0524 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Tenable Nessus

- [CVE-2022-4313](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-4313/): Command injection in Tenable.io, Tenable.sc and Nessus (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2023-0101](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-0101/): Privilege escalation in Nessus (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2022-32973](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-32973/): Privilege escalation in Nessus (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2025-36630](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-36630/): Local Privilege Escalation (high 8.4)
- [CVE-2019-3974](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-3974/): Path traversal in Tenable Nessus (high 8.1)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-0524 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-0524 is a high-severity vulnerability in Tenable Nessus, published on 1 Feb 2023. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-0524 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Tenable Nessus. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-0524/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-0524/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-0524
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-0524
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-0524

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-0524/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.