# CVE-2023-36628: Privilege Escalation in VASA

> A flaw in Pure Storage FlashArray Purity allows vSphere/ESXi admins to escalate privileges to root on the storage array.

- **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:** 2 Oct 2023
- **Updated:** 23 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-c2xj-xc27-698r

## What is CVE-2023-36628?

CVE-2023-36628 is a high-severity vulnerability in Pure Storage FlashArray Purity, published on 2 Oct 2023. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A flaw exists in VASA which allows users with access to a vSphere/ESXi VMware admin on a FlashArray to gain root access through privilege escalation.

Weakness: CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-36628?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Purestorage Purity\/\/Fa.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-36628?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-36628 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-36628 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-36628 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Pure Storage FlashArray Purity

- [CVE-2024-0001](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-0001/): Auth bypass in FlashArray (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2024-0002](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-0002/): Auth bypass in FlashArray (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2022-32554](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-32554/): Hardcoded credentials in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2024-0003](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-0003/): Privilege escalation in FlashArray (critical 9.1)
- [CVE-2024-0004](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-0004/): Command injection in FlashArray (critical 9.1)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-36628 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-36628 is a high-severity vulnerability in Pure Storage FlashArray Purity, published on 2 Oct 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-2023-36628 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Pure Storage FlashArray Purity. 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-2023-36628/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-36628/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-36628
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-36628
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-36628

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-36628/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.