# CVE-2023-4009: Privilege Escalation for Project Owner and Project User Admin Roles in Ops Manager

> Authenticated project owners or user admins can escalate privileges to organization owner by generating an API key with elevated permissions.

- **Severity:** High 7.2 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 8 Aug 2023
- **Updated:** 13 Feb 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-4xr4-3f5p-7cg4

## What is CVE-2023-4009?

CVE-2023-4009 is a high-severity vulnerability in MongoDB Ops Manager, published on 8 Aug 2023. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In MongoDB Ops Manager v5.0 prior to 5.0.22 and v6.0 prior to 6.0.17 it is possible for an authenticated user with project owner or project user admin access to generate an API key with the privileges of org owner resulting in privilege escalation.

Weakness: CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management), CWE-648 (Incorrect Use of Privileged APIs)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-4009?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Mongodb Ops Manager Server.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-4009?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-4009 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-4009 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-4009 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in MongoDB Ops Manager

- [CVE-2023-0342](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-0342/): MongoDB Ops Manager may disclose sensitive information in Diagnostic Archive (low 3.1)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-4009 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-4009 is a high-severity vulnerability in MongoDB Ops Manager, published on 8 Aug 2023. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-4009 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: MongoDB Ops Manager. 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-2023-4009/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-4009/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-4009
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-4009
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-4009

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-4009/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.