CVE-2023-6178

Vulnerability

The vulnerability exists in Nessus Agent versions prior to 10.4.4. An authenticated attacker with privileges on the managing application (e.g., Tenable.sc or Tenable.io) can alter Nessus Rules variables to overwrite arbitrary files on the remote host where the agent is running. [1]

Exploitation

To exploit, the attacker must have authenticated access to the managing application with sufficient privileges to modify Nessus Rules. By crafting malicious rules variables, the attacker can cause the agent to write to arbitrary file paths on the remote host. No user interaction on the agent side is required beyond normal operation. [1]

Impact

Successful exploitation allows the attacker to overwrite arbitrary files on the remote host, potentially leading to a denial of service condition. The impact is limited to file overwrite; no remote code execution or privilege escalation is indicated. [1]

Mitigation

Tenable released Nessus Agent version 10.4.4 on 2023-11-20 to fix this vulnerability. Users should upgrade to version 10.4.4 or later. No workarounds are mentioned. The vulnerability is not listed on CISA KEV as of this writing. [1]