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Full vulnerability report · 2023
CVE-2023-39902High confidence

A software vulnerability has been identified in the U-Boot Secondary Program Loader (SPL) before 2023.07 on select NXP i.MX 8M family processors

Unknown · Unknown

7.0HighCVSS 3.1
Recommended action
Within 7 days

High technical severity; prioritise exposed affected systems while verifying vendor guidance.

Patch available
R
Operational reassessment

Published severity in operational context

Open reassessment dashboard →
Published severityHighOperational priority:Medium, lowered one band.downgradedsince 16 Sep 2024

Evidence used

  • No CISA KEV confirmation is currently recorded.
  • Exploitation requires an existing local or physical foothold with privileges.
  • EPSS is 0.16% for the current model date.

Compensating controls

  • Validate the affected product branch and deploy the verified fixed release.
  • Restrict local access and enforce least privilege on affected hosts.
  • Monitor vendor guidance and exploitation sources for a material change.

Verification

  1. Confirm that the asset runs Unknown Unknown and falls inside the recorded affected range.
  2. Verify the installed build against the product-specific fixed version after deployment.
  3. Validate exposure, authentication requirements and compensating controls in the actual environment.
  4. Reopen this reassessment when CVSS, KEV, EPSS, exploit evidence or remediation changes.
Mitigation target: As exposure requiresRemediation target: Within 365 days

This automated reassessment organises public evidence. It does not know asset exposure, business impact or control effectiveness and does not replace CVSS or a human risk decision.

Optional official sources

National CERT insights
?CERT means Computer Emergency Response Team; CSIRT is the closely related term Computer Security Incident Response Team.

Choose official national sources for this report. Each advisory shows its original language. Your selection is remembered on this device and included in shared links.

Official European source

ENISA European Vulnerability Database

Official EUVD identifiers, advisory evidence and known-exploited context. Missing fields are not treated as evidence of low risk.

1 current
ENISA EUVD identifier

EUVD-2023-43602

No EUVD known-exploited evidence

ENISA has published the identifier mapping but no EUVD description has been stored yet.

EUVD state
Present in the current official mapping
Known exploitation
Not present in the current ENISA EUVD known-exploited dataset. This is not proof of no exploitation.
ENISA score
Not supplied in the stored EUVD record
Advisory evidence
No linked advisory details stored yet
Recommended actionWithin 7 days

High technical severity; prioritise exposed affected systems while verifying vendor guidance.

Patch available
01

What, why and how

A software vulnerability has been identified in the U-Boot Secondary Program Loader (SPL) before 2023.07 on select NXP i.MX 8M family processors. Under certain conditions, a crafted Flattened Image Tree (FIT) format structure can be used to overwrite SPL memory, allowing unauthenticated software to execute on the target, leading to privilege escalation. This affects i.MX 8M, i.MX 8M Mini, i.MX 8M Nano, and i.MX 8M Plus.

What

A software vulnerability has been identified in the U-Boot Secondary Program Loader (SPL) before 2023.07 on select NXP i.MX 8M family processors. Under certain conditions, a crafted Flattened Image Tree (FIT) format structure can be used to overwrite SPL memory, allowing unauthenticated software to execute on the target, leading to privilege escalation. This affects i.MX 8M, i.MX 8M Mini, i.MX 8M Nano, and i.MX 8M Plus.

Why

The product does not preserve permissions or incorrectly preserves permissions when copying, restoring, or sharing objects, which can cause them to have less restrictive permissions than intended.

How

An attacker operating through local access may attempt exploitation with low privileges. If successful, the issue may gain additional privileges.

What

A software vulnerability has been identified in the U-Boot Secondary Program Loader (SPL) before 2023.07 on select NXP i.MX 8M family processors. Under certain conditions, a crafted Flattened Image Tree (FIT) format structure can be used to overwrite SPL memory, allowing unauthenticated software to execute on the target, leading to privilege escalation. This affects i.MX 8M, i.MX 8M Mini, i.MX 8M Nano, and i.MX 8M Plus.

Why

The product does not preserve permissions or incorrectly preserves permissions when copying, restoring, or sharing objects, which can cause them to have less restrictive permissions than intended.

How

An attacker operating through local access may attempt exploitation with low privileges. If successful, the issue may gain additional privileges.

02

Exploit reality and attack path

CVSS severity, EPSS forecast probability, public exploit material and CISA-confirmed exploitation are separate signals.

Observed exploitation
?Confirmed exploitation and public exploit material are separate signals. Attacks can occur without public proof-of-concept or exploit code.
No confirmed evidence

No CISA KEV match was present at the last successful refresh. This means no confirmation from that source, not proof of no exploitation.

Public PoC / exploit material
?Confirmed exploitation and public exploit material are separate signals. Attacks can occur without public proof-of-concept or exploit code.
None recorded

No exploit-tagged reference or CISA SSVC proof-of-concept state is currently recorded. Research may still exist outside the structured feeds.

Likely attack path
local access → Improper Preservation of Permissions → gain additional privileges
Attack surface
Local
Privileges required
Low: a basic authenticated account is required
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
High: exploitation depends on specific conditions
Security boundary
Unchanged: impact remains within the vulnerable component's security authority
Weakness
?CWE means Common Weakness Enumeration: a standard category for the underlying weakness.
CWE-281 ↗

CWE-281: Improper Preservation of Permissions. The product does not preserve permissions or incorrectly preserves permissions when copying, restoring, or sharing objects, which can cause them to have less restrictive permissions than intended.

CVSS vector
?CVSS means Common Vulnerability Scoring System. The vector records the metric values used to calculate technical severity.
CVSS:3.1/AC:H/AV:L/A:H/C:H/I:H/PR:L/S:U/UI:N

Common Vulnerability Scoring System 3.1: the compact vector below is decoded into plain language.

ACHighAttack complexity: Successful exploitation depends on specific conditions outside the attacker's direct control.AVLocalAttack vector: The attacker needs local access to the vulnerable system.AHighAvailability impact: A successful attack can cause a major loss.CHighConfidentiality impact: A successful attack can cause a major loss.IHighIntegrity impact: A successful attack can cause a major loss.PRLowPrivileges required: The attacker needs basic user-level privileges.SUnchangedScope: The security impact remains within the vulnerable component's authority.UINoneUser interaction: No action by another user is required.
Post-exploitation / living off the land
The issue can support a local privilege or sandbox boundary transition; normal system utilities may then be available in the gained context.
Privilege escalationCWE-281
A

Official authority intelligence

Only matched European and national findings are included. Language selectors and unavailable sources are omitted.

Cyber Security Agency of Singapore · English · CSA-SB-20231018Security Bulletin 18 Oct 2023

The Cyber Security Agency of Singapore included this CVE in its official Security Bulletin 18 Oct 2023, published on 18 October 2023. Open the linked bulletin for the product, severity and reference information published in that issue.

Official advisory ↗
JVN iPedia · Japanese · JVNDB-2023-015070NXP Semiconductors の uboot secondary program loader におけるパーミッションの不適切な保持に関する脆弱性

NXP Semiconductors の uboot secondary program loader には、パーミッションの不適切な保持に関する脆弱性が存在します。

Official advisory ↗
03

Patch and workaround

Operational remediation based on structured source evidence.

Status
?Patch availability is based on structured fixed-version fields and authoritative update references. If no fix is verified, check the vendor advisory before making a change.
Patch available
Affected
u boot secondary program loader/spl/: < 2023.07
Fixed
An authoritative update reference is available, but the fixed version is not recorded in the structured CVE fields. Check the linked vendor advisory for the applicable release.
Action
Review the linked authoritative reference and apply the recorded fixed release appropriate to the affected product branch.
Workaround
A mitigation or workaround reference is available from the source linked below; validate it against the affected product and version.
04

Evidence and provenance

Published 17 Oct 2023 · Last source change 16 Sept 2024, 15:15 UTC · CWE-281 · Improper Preservation of Permissions

CVE recordCVE.org · 5.1
CVSS sourceCNA
EPSS source
?The date BlackTree first stored a score for this CVE from the daily FIRST EPSS feed.
FIRST · tracked since 2026-08-14
European sourceENISA EUVD · EUVD-2023-43602
Product sourceUnavailable
Remediation sourceCVE/CNA references
CWE sourceNIST NVD
NVD statusNVD modified after enrichment

Missing structured fields: affected product. Missing data is not evidence of low risk; review the primary advisory.

Material change intelligence

What changed after publication

View recent updates ↗

No material field changes have been recorded since change tracking began. Routine source refreshes and cosmetic edits are intentionally excluded.

Material fields only · duplicate refreshes suppressed · history retained for the configured operational retention period
CVE published
Fixed release or patch reference recorded
ENISA EUVD · EUVD-2023-43602↗Patch or update reference↗CVE authority or vendor reference↗Official CVE record (CNA and ADP data)↗NVD record↗
Technical terms and abbreviations used in this report
CVE
Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures: the public identifier for one disclosed vulnerability.
CVSS
Common Vulnerability Scoring System: a technical severity framework; it is not patching priority by itself.
EPSS
Exploit Prediction Scoring System: FIRST's estimate of the probability that exploitation activity will be observed in the next 30 days; it is a forecast, not confirmation.
CWE
Common Weakness Enumeration: the standard category describing the underlying software or hardware weakness.
CNA
CVE Numbering Authority: an organisation authorised to assign and publish CVE records.
CISA ADP
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Authorized Data Publisher: structured enrichment added to a CVE record.
NVD
National Vulnerability Database: NIST's enrichment service for CVE records.
CERT / CSIRT
A computer security incident response team that publishes warnings or coordinates incident response.
PoC
Proof of concept: public material that demonstrates or helps reproduce exploitation.
CSAF
Common Security Advisory Framework: a machine-readable format for security advisories.
LoTL
Living off the land: abuse of legitimate tools or system functions during an attack.
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