Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2023-40547

high Nessus Plugin ID 257135

Synopsis

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed with a vulnerability that the vendor indicates will not be patched.

Description

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed that are impacted by a vulnerability without a vendor supplied patch available.

- A remote code execution vulnerability was found in Shim. The Shim boot support trusts attacker-controlled values when parsing an HTTP response. This flaw allows an attacker to craft a specific malicious HTTP request, leading to a completely controlled out-of-bounds write primitive and complete system compromise.
This flaw is only exploitable during the early boot phase, an attacker needs to perform a Man-in-the- Middle or compromise the boot server to be able to exploit this vulnerability successfully.
(CVE-2023-40547)

Note that Nessus relies on the presence of the package as reported by the vendor.

Solution

There is no known solution at this time.

See Also

https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-40547

Plugin Details

Severity: High

ID: 257135

File Name: unpatched_CVE_2023_40547.nasl

Version: 1.1

Type: local

Agent: unix

Family: Misc.

Published: 8/27/2025

Updated: 8/27/2025

Supported Sensors: Agentless Assessment, Frictionless Assessment Agent, Frictionless Assessment AWS, Frictionless Assessment Azure, Nessus Agent, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Critical

Score: 9.2

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 6.8

Temporal Score: 5

Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2023-40547

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 8.3

Temporal Score: 7.2

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:U/RL:O/RC:C

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:22.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:shim, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:14.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:shim-signed, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:20.04:-:lts

Required KB Items: Host/cpu, Host/local_checks_enabled, global_settings/vendor_unpatched, Host/OS/identifier

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Vulnerability Publication Date: 1/25/2024

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2023-40547