CVE-2023-28436
5.7 · MEDIUMOverview
CVE-2023-28436 is a medium-severity vulnerability affecting tailscale tailscale. It was published on March 23, 2023 and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 5.7 (MEDIUM).
This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 5.7, rated MEDIUM. It requires local or adjacent network access to exploit. Some level of privileges is required for exploitation.
Technical Description
Tailscale is software for using Wireguard and multi-factor authentication (MFA). A vulnerability identified in the implementation of Tailscale SSH starting in version 1.34.0 and prior to prior to 1.38.2 in FreeBSD allows commands to be run with a higher privilege group ID than that specified in Tailscale SSH access rules. A difference in the behavior of the FreeBSD `setgroups` system call from POSIX meant that the Tailscale client running on a FreeBSD-based operating system did not appropriately restrict groups on the host when using Tailscale SSH. When accessing a FreeBSD host over Tailscale SSH, the egid of the tailscaled process was used instead of that of the user specified in Tailscale SSH access rules.
Tailscale SSH commands may have been run with a higher privilege group ID than that specified in Tailscale SSH access rules if they met all of the following criteria: the destination node was a FreeBSD device with Tailscale SSH enabled; Tailscale SSH access rules permitted access
Remediation
Check the references section for vendor advisories and patches from tailscale. Update tailscale to the latest patched version. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.
Affected Products
| Vendor | Product | Versions | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| tailscale | tailscale | >= 1.34, < 1.38.2 | Affected |
References
Frequently Asked Questions
What is CVE-2023-28436?
CVE-2023-28436 is a medium-severity vulnerability affecting tailscale tailscale. It was published on March 23, 2023 and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 5.7 (MEDIUM).
How severe is CVE-2023-28436?
This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 5.7, rated MEDIUM. It requires local or adjacent network access to exploit. Some level of privileges is required for exploitation.
How do I fix or remediate CVE-2023-28436?
Check the references section for vendor advisories and patches from tailscale. Update tailscale to the latest patched version. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.
How can CyberStrike help with CVE-2023-28436?
CyberStrike's AI-powered security agents can automatically detect CVE-2023-28436 across your infrastructure using autonomous pentesting, DAST scanning, and HackBrowser. The platform continuously monitors for known vulnerabilities and provides actionable remediation guidance prioritized by real-world exploitability.
How CyberStrike Helps
AI agents map your attack surface to find vulnerabilities like this one.
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