CVE-2023-1314

cloudflared's Installer has Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

References

Cloudflared Releases

A vulnerability has been discovered in cloudflared's installer (<= 2023.3.0) for Windows 32-bits devices that allows a local attacker with no administrative permissions to escalate their privileges on the affected device. This vulnerability exists because the MSI installer used by cloudflared relied on a world-writable directory.

An attacker with local access to the device (without Administrator rights) can use symbolic links to trick the MSI installer into deleting files in locations that the attacker would otherwise have no access to. By creating a symlink from the world-writable directory to the target file, the attacker can manipulate the MSI installer's repair functionality to delete the target file during the repair process.

Exploitation of this vulnerability could allow an attacker to delete important system files or replace them with malicious files, potentially leading to the affected device being compromised.

The cloudflared client itself is not affected by this vulnerability, only the installer for 32-bit Windows devices.

CVE-2023-1314 has a CVSS score of 7.5 (High). The vector is requires local access, low privileges required, and no user interaction. A CVSS score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether this affects your application depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable in your environment. A fixed version is available (0.0.0-20230313153246-f686da832f85); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.

Kodem intelligence

Already deployed Kodem?

A new installer was released as part of version 2023.3.1, corresponding to pseudoversion 0.0.0-20230313153246-f686da832f85 on pkg.go.dev. Users are encouraged to remove old installers from their systems.

1. What is CVE-2023-1314? CVE-2023-1314 is a high-severity security vulnerability in github.com/cloudflare/cloudflared (go), affecting versions < 0.0.0-20230313153246-f686da832f85. It is fixed in 0.0.0-20230313153246-f686da832f85.
2. How severe is CVE-2023-1314? CVE-2023-1314 has a CVSS score of 7.5 (High). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.
3. Which versions of github.com/cloudflare/cloudflared are affected by CVE-2023-1314? github.com/cloudflare/cloudflared (go) versions < 0.0.0-20230313153246-f686da832f85 is affected.
4. Is there a fix for CVE-2023-1314? Yes. CVE-2023-1314 is fixed in 0.0.0-20230313153246-f686da832f85. Upgrade to this version or later.
5. Is CVE-2023-1314 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2023-1314 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
6. What actually determines whether CVE-2023-1314 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
7. How do I fix CVE-2023-1314? Upgrade github.com/cloudflare/cloudflared to 0.0.0-20230313153246-f686da832f85 or later.

Other vulnerabilities in github.com/cloudflare/cloudflared