# CVE-2023-28143: Local Privilege Escalation

> Local attackers can gain root privileges during installation on older macOS versions due to insecure file permissions in the Qualys Cloud Agent installer.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.7 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 18 Apr 2023
- **Updated:** 5 Feb 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-crgr-4cw4-mj2w

## What is CVE-2023-28143?

CVE-2023-28143 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Qualys Cloud Agent, published on 18 Apr 2023. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

Qualys Cloud Agent for macOS (versions 2.5.1-75 before 3.7)
installer allows a local escalation of privilege bounded only to the time of
installation and only on older macOSX (macOS 10.15 and older) versions.
Attackers may exploit incorrect file permissions to give them ROOT command
execution privileges on the host. During the install of the PKG, a step in the
process involves extracting the package and copying files to several
directories. Attackers may gain writable access to files during the install of
PKG when extraction of the package and copying files to several directories,
enabling a local escalation of privilege.

Weakness: CWE-426 (Untrusted Search Path)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-28143?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Qualys Cloud Agent.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-28143?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-28143 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-28143 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-28143 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Qualys Cloud Agent

- [CVE-2023-28140](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-28140/): Executable Hijacking (medium 6.7)
- [CVE-2023-28141](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-28141/): NTFS Junction (medium 6.7)
- [CVE-2023-28142](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-28142/): Race Condition (medium 6.7)
- [CVE-2022-29550](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-29550/): Information disclosure in n/a (medium 5.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-28143 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-28143 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Qualys Cloud Agent, published on 18 Apr 2023. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-28143 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Qualys Cloud Agent. 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-2023-28143/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-28143/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-28143
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-28143
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-28143

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-28143/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.