# CVE-2023-41138: Privilege escalation in AppsAnywhere Client

> A local user can trick the AppsAnywhere macOS helper into executing arbitrary commands with elevated permissions, leading to privilege escalation.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 9 Nov 2023
- **Updated:** 4 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-x43q-54p7-vw63

## What is CVE-2023-41138?

CVE-2023-41138 is a high-severity vulnerability in AppsAnywhere Client, published on 9 Nov 2023. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The AppsAnywhere macOS client-privileged helper can be tricked into executing arbitrary commands with elevated permissions by a local user process.

Weakness: CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management), CWE-226 (Sensitive Information in Resource Not Removed Before Reuse)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-41138?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Appsanywhere Appsanywhere Client.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-41138?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-41138 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-41138 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-41138 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in AppsAnywhere Client

- [CVE-2023-41137](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-41137/): Hardcoded credentials in AppsAnywhere Client (high 8.0)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-41138 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-41138 is a high-severity vulnerability in AppsAnywhere Client, published on 9 Nov 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-2023-41138 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: AppsAnywhere 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-2023-41138/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-41138/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-41138
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-41138
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-41138

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-41138/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.