# CVE-2023-38041: Race condition in Secure Access Client

> A logged-in user can exploit a race condition in Ivanti Secure Access Client to elevate privileges on the affected system.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:L/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:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 25 Oct 2023
- **Updated:** 7 Mar 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-mvjp-6vj8-pmx6

## What is CVE-2023-38041?

CVE-2023-38041 is a high-severity vulnerability in Ivanti Secure Access Client, published on 25 Oct 2023. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A logged in user may elevate its permissions by abusing a Time-of-Check to Time-of-Use (TOCTOU) race condition. When a particular process flow is initiated, an attacker can exploit this condition to gain unauthorized elevated privileges on the affected system.

Weakness: CWE-367 (Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) Race Condition)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-38041?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Ivanti Secure Access Client.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-38041?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-38041 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-38041 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-38041 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Public exploit code:

- Ivanti Pulse Secure Client Connect Local Privilege Escalation CVE-2023-38041 Proof of Concept (github_poc): https://github.com/ewilded/CVE-2023-38041-POC

## Other vulnerabilities in Ivanti Secure Access Client

- [CVE-2026-8992](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-8992/): Security feature bypass in Secure Access Client (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2023-35080](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-35080/): Privilege escalation in Secure Access Client (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2023-38043](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-38043/): Denial of service in Secure Access Client Windows (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2023-38543](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-38543/): Denial of service in Secure Access Client Windows (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2026-7432](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-7432/): Race condition in Secure Access Client (high 7.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-38041 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-38041 is a high-severity vulnerability in Ivanti Secure Access Client, published on 25 Oct 2023. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-38041 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Ivanti Secure Access Client. 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-2023-38041/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-38041/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-38041
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-38041
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-38041

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-38041/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.