CVE-2023-46248 Vulnerability Analysis & Exploit Details

CVE-2023-46248
Vulnerability Scoring

9.0
/10
Severe Risk

Cybersecurity professionals consider CVE-2023-46248 an immediate threat requiring urgent mitigation.

Attack Complexity Details

  • Attack Complexity: Low
    Exploits can be performed without significant complexity or special conditions.
  • Attack Vector: Network
    Vulnerability is exploitable over a network without physical access.
  • Privileges Required: Low
    Some privileges are necessary to exploit the vulnerability.
  • Scope: Changed
    Successful exploitation can impact components beyond the vulnerable component.
  • User Interaction: Required
    User interaction is necessary for successful exploitation.

CVE-2023-46248 Details

Status: Modified

Last updated: 🕗 21 Nov 2024, 08:28 UTC
Originally published on: 🕓 31 Oct 2023, 16:15 UTC

Time between publication and last update: 386 days

CVSS Release: version 3

CVSS3 Source

security-advisories@github.com

CVSS3 Type

Secondary

CVSS3 Vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVE-2023-46248 Vulnerability Summary

CVE-2023-46248: Cody is an artificial intelligence (AI) coding assistant. The Cody AI VSCode extension versions 0.10.0 through 0.14.0 are vulnerable to Remote Code Execution under certain conditions. An attacker in control of a malicious repository could modify the Cody configuration file `.vscode/cody.json` and overwrite Cody commands. If a user with the extension installed opens this malicious repository and runs a Cody command such as /explain or /doc, this could allow arbitrary code execution on the user's machine. The vulnerability is rated as critical severity, but with low exploitability. It requires the user to have a malicious repository loaded and execute the overwritten command in VS Code. The issue is exploitable regardless of the user blocking code execution on a repository through VS Code Workspace Trust. The issue was found during a regular 3rd party penetration test. The maintainers of Cody do not have evidence of open source repositories having malicious `.vscode/cody.json` files to exploit this vulnerability. The issue is fixed in version 0.14.1 of the Cody VSCode extension. In case users can't promptly upgrade, they should not open any untrusted repositories with the Cody extension loaded.

Assessing the Risk of CVE-2023-46248

Access Complexity Graph

The exploitability of CVE-2023-46248 depends on two key factors: attack complexity (the level of effort required to execute an exploit) and privileges required (the access level an attacker needs).

Exploitability Analysis for CVE-2023-46248

CVE-2023-46248 presents an accessible attack vector with minimal effort required. Restricting access controls and implementing security updates are critical to reducing exploitation risks.

Understanding AC and PR

A lower complexity and fewer privilege requirements make exploitation easier. Security teams should evaluate these aspects to determine the urgency of mitigation strategies, such as patch management and access control policies.

Attack Complexity (AC) measures the difficulty in executing an exploit. A high AC means that specific conditions must be met, making an attack more challenging, while a low AC means the vulnerability can be exploited with minimal effort.

Privileges Required (PR) determine the level of system access necessary for an attack. Vulnerabilities requiring no privileges are more accessible to attackers, whereas high privilege requirements limit exploitation to authorized users with elevated access.

CVSS Score Breakdown Chart

Above is the CVSS Sub-score Breakdown for CVE-2023-46248, illustrating how Base, Impact, and Exploitability factors combine to form the overall severity rating. A higher sub-score typically indicates a more severe or easier-to-exploit vulnerability.

CIA Impact Analysis

Below is the Impact Analysis for CVE-2023-46248, showing how Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability might be affected if the vulnerability is exploited. Higher values usually signal greater potential damage.

  • Confidentiality: High
    Exploiting CVE-2023-46248 can result in unauthorized access to sensitive data, severely compromising data privacy.
  • Integrity: High
    CVE-2023-46248 could allow unauthorized modifications to data, potentially affecting system reliability and trust.
  • Availability: High
    CVE-2023-46248 can disrupt system operations, potentially causing complete denial of service (DoS).

Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS)

The EPSS score estimates the probability that this vulnerability will be exploited in the near future.

EPSS Score: 0.208% (probability of exploit)

EPSS Percentile: 59.33% (lower percentile = lower relative risk)
This vulnerability is less risky than approximately 40.67% of others.

CVE-2023-46248 References

External References

CWE Common Weakness Enumeration

CWE-15

CAPEC Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification

  • Subverting Environment Variable Values CAPEC-13 The adversary directly or indirectly modifies environment variables used by or controlling the target software. The adversary's goal is to cause the target software to deviate from its expected operation in a manner that benefits the adversary.
  • XML Schema Poisoning CAPEC-146 An adversary corrupts or modifies the content of XML schema information passed between a client and server for the purpose of undermining the security of the target. XML Schemas provide the structure and content definitions for XML documents. Schema poisoning is the ability to manipulate a schema either by replacing or modifying it to compromise the programs that process documents that use this schema.
  • Configuration/Environment Manipulation CAPEC-176 An attacker manipulates files or settings external to a target application which affect the behavior of that application. For example, many applications use external configuration files and libraries - modification of these entities or otherwise affecting the application's ability to use them would constitute a configuration/environment manipulation attack.
  • Manipulate Registry Information CAPEC-203 An adversary exploits a weakness in authorization in order to modify content within a registry (e.g., Windows Registry, Mac plist, application registry). Editing registry information can permit the adversary to hide configuration information or remove indicators of compromise to cover up activity. Many applications utilize registries to store configuration and service information. As such, modification of registry information can affect individual services (affecting billing, authorization, or even allowing for identity spoofing) or the overall configuration of a targeted application. For example, both Java RMI and SOAP use registries to track available services. Changing registry values is sometimes a preliminary step towards completing another attack pattern, but given the long term usage of many registry values, manipulation of registry information could be its own end.
  • Modification of Registry Run Keys CAPEC-270 An adversary adds a new entry to the "run keys" in the Windows registry so that an application of their choosing is executed when a user logs in. In this way, the adversary can get their executable to operate and run on the target system with the authorized user's level of permissions. This attack is a good way for an adversary to run persistent spyware on a user's machine, such as a keylogger.
  • Schema Poisoning CAPEC-271 An adversary corrupts or modifies the content of a schema for the purpose of undermining the security of the target. Schemas provide the structure and content definitions for resources used by an application. By replacing or modifying a schema, the adversary can affect how the application handles or interprets a resource, often leading to possible denial of service, entering into an unexpected state, or recording incomplete data.
  • Replace Winlogon Helper DLL CAPEC-579 Winlogon is a part of Windows that performs logon actions. In Windows systems prior to Windows Vista, a registry key can be modified that causes Winlogon to load a DLL on startup. Adversaries may take advantage of this feature to load adversarial code at startup.
  • Target Programs with Elevated Privileges CAPEC-69 This attack targets programs running with elevated privileges. The adversary tries to leverage a vulnerability in the running program and get arbitrary code to execute with elevated privileges.
  • Manipulating Web Input to File System Calls CAPEC-76 An attacker manipulates inputs to the target software which the target software passes to file system calls in the OS. The goal is to gain access to, and perhaps modify, areas of the file system that the target software did not intend to be accessible.
  • Manipulating User-Controlled Variables CAPEC-77 This attack targets user controlled variables (DEBUG=1, PHP Globals, and So Forth). An adversary can override variables leveraging user-supplied, untrusted query variables directly used on the application server without any data sanitization. In extreme cases, the adversary can change variables controlling the business logic of the application. For instance, in languages like PHP, a number of poorly set default configurations may allow the user to override variables.

Vulnerable Configurations

  • cpe:2.3:a:sourcegraph:cody:0.10.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:sourcegraph:cody:0.10.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:sourcegraph:cody:0.14.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:sourcegraph:cody:0.14.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

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