CVE-2023-4001
Published: January 11, 2024Last modified: June 16, 2025
Description
An authentication bypass flaw was found in GRUB due to the way that GRUB uses the UUID of a device to search for the configuration file that contains the password hash for the GRUB password protection feature. An attacker capable of attaching an external drive such as a USB stick containing a file system with a duplicate UUID (the same as in the "/boot/" file system) can bypass the GRUB password protection feature on UEFI systems, which enumerate removable drives before non-removable ones. This issue was introduced in a downstream patch in Red Hat's version of grub2 and does not affect the upstream package.
Severity score breakdown
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Base score | 6.8 |
| Attack Vector | PHYSICAL |
| Attack complexity | LOW |
| Privileges required | NONE |
| User interaction | NONE |
| Scope | UNCHANGED |
| Confidentiality | HIGH |
| Integrity impact | HIGH |
| Availability impact | HIGH |
| Vector | CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
Status
| Product | Release | Package | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alpaquita Linux | 23 LTS | grub | Not affected (2.06-r9) |
| Stream | grub | Not affected (2.06-r14) |
References
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2024/01/15/3
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:0437
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:0456
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:0468
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-4001
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2224951
- https://dfir.ru/2024/01/15/cve-2023-4001-a-vulnerability-in-the-downstream-grub-boot-manager/
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/3OBADMKHQLJOBA32Q7XPNSYMVHVAFDCB/
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/CHLZQ47HM64NDOHMHYO7VIJFYD5ZPPYN/
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20240216-0006/