# CVE-2023-4996: Local privilege escalation

> A local non-admin user can disable the Netskope client service due to missing permission checks, leading to privilege escalation and service disruption.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.6 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/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:** 6 Nov 2023
- **Updated:** 5 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-ccf8-r983-v699

## What is CVE-2023-4996?

CVE-2023-4996 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Netskope Client, published on 6 Nov 2023. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Netskope was made aware of a security vulnerability in its NSClient product for version 100 & prior where a malicious non-admin user can disable the Netskope client by using a specially-crafted package. The root cause of the problem was a user control code when called by a Windows ServiceController did not validate the permissions associated with the user before executing the user control code. This user control code had permissions to terminate the NSClient service.

Weakness: CWE-281 (Improper Preservation of Permissions)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-4996?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Netskope Netskope.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-4996?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-4996 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-4996 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-4996 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Netskope Client

- [CVE-2020-24576](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-24576/): Privilege escalation in n/a (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2024-7401](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-7401/): Client Enrollment Process Bypass (high 8.5)
- [CVE-2021-44862](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-44862/): Sensitive Information store in NSClient logs (high 8.4)
- [CVE-2021-41388](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-41388/): Privilege escalation in n/a (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2020-28845](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-28845/): Code injection in n/a (high 7.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-4996 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-4996 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Netskope Client, published on 6 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-2023-4996 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Netskope 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-2023-4996/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-4996/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-4996
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-4996
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-4996

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-4996/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.