# CVE-2023-46176: IBM MQ privilege escalation

> A local attacker can gain elevated privileges on IBM MQ Appliance due to improper validation of security keys.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.7 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/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:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 3 Nov 2023
- **Updated:** 4 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-8jv2-3395-qjhf

## What is CVE-2023-46176?

CVE-2023-46176 is a medium-severity vulnerability in IBM MQ Appliance, published on 3 Nov 2023. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

IBM MQ Appliance 9.3 CD could allow a local attacker to gain elevated privileges on the system, caused by improper validation of security keys.  IBM X-Force ID:  269535.

Weakness: CWE-424 (Improper Protection of Alternate Path)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-46176?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Ibm Mq Appliance.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-46176?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-46176 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-46176 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-46176 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in IBM MQ Appliance

- [CVE-2025-0975](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-0975/): IBM MQ code execution (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2017-1318](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-1318/): Command injection in MQ Appliance (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2019-4620](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-4620/): Security feature bypass in MQ Appliance (high 8.4)
- [CVE-2021-38967](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-38967/): Code injection in MQ Appliance (high 8.2)
- [CVE-2024-25048](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-25048/): IBM MQ code execution (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-46176 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-46176 is a medium-severity vulnerability in IBM MQ Appliance, published on 3 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-2023-46176 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: IBM MQ Appliance. 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-2023-46176/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-46176/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-46176
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-46176
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-46176

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-46176/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.