# CVE-2023-22738: Improper Preservation of Permissions in vantage6

> Users assigned to a new organization retain old permissions, allowing unauthorized access to data in the new organization.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.3 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 1 Mar 2023
- **Updated:** 6 Mar 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-vvjv-97j8-94xh, PYSEC-2023-53

## What is CVE-2023-22738?

CVE-2023-22738 is a medium-severity missing authorization vulnerability in vantage6, published on 1 Mar 2023. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

vantage6 is a privacy preserving federated learning infrastructure for secure insight exchange. Assigning existing users to a different organizations is currently possible. It may lead to unintended access: if a user from organization A is accidentally assigned to organization B, they will retain their permissions and therefore might be able to access stuff they should not be allowed to access. This issue is patched in version 3.8.0.

Weakness: CWE-281 (Improper Preservation of Permissions)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-22738?

3 open source packages ship an affected version, including vantage6. It affects 1 product.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `vantage6` | PyPI | All versions | 3.6.1, 3.8.0rc3 |
| `vantage6` | PyPI | All versions | 3.8.0 |
| `vantage6` | PyPI | All versions | 3.8.0 |

Products: Vantage6 Vantage6.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-22738?

Upgrade vantage6 to a fixed version for your release line: 3.6.1, 3.8.0rc3 or 3.8.0.

## Is CVE-2023-22738 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-22738 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in vantage6

- [CVE-2024-21649](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-21649/): Remote code execution (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2023-23929](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-23929/): Refresh tokens do not expire in Vantage6 (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2023-47631](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-47631/): vantage6 Node accepts non-whitelisted algorithms from malicious server (high 7.2)
- [CVE-2024-21653](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-21653/): vantage6 insecure SSH configuration for node and server containers (medium 6.5)
- [CVE-2023-23930](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-23930/): vantage6's Pickle serialization is insecure (medium 5.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-22738 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-22738 is a medium-severity missing authorization vulnerability in vantage6, published on 1 Mar 2023. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-22738 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected packages and fixed versions:
- vantage6 (PyPI): affected all versions; fixed in 3.6.1, 3.8.0rc3
- vantage6 (PyPI): affected all versions; fixed in 3.8.0
- vantage6 (PyPI): affected all versions; fixed in 3.8.0

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-2023-22738/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-22738/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-22738
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-22738
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-22738

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-22738/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.