VulnerabilityPublished 15 Dec 2023Updated 5 Jun 2025

CVE-2023-6837: WSO2 API Manager · Incorrect Authorization

Affects WSO2 API ManagerSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 8.5 High.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 10:12 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

8.5High

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 39% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:L/A:N

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: None
Scope: Changed
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: Low
Availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Changed: An exploited vulnerability can affect resources beyond the security scope managed by the security authority of the vulnerable component. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are different and managed by different security authorities.
Confidentiality: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: Low: Modification of data is possible, but the attacker does not have control over the consequence of a modification, or the amount of modification is limited. The data modification does not have a direct, serious impact on the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 15 Dec 2023
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Mavenorg.wso2/carbon-apimgt`pkg:maven/org.wso2/carbon-apimgt`Other threats	Affected 2.5.0 – 4.0.0 6 affected builds	Fixed in–

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

To mitigate this vulnerability, European organizations should: 1) Review and audit their WSO2 API Manager configurations to identify if federated authentication with JIT provisioning is enabled and if the "Prompt for username, password and consent" option and "Assert identity using mapped local subject identifier" flag are active. 2) Temporarily disable JIT provisioning or the specific options involved until a patch or update is available. 3) Implement strict monitoring and logging of authentication and provisioning events to detect unusual activity indicative of impersonation attempts. 4) Enforce strong identity verification and multi-factor authentication (MFA) at the federated IDP to reduce the risk of attacker account creation and misuse. 5) Limit the privileges of newly provisioned accounts and apply the principle of least privilege to reduce potential damage. 6) Stay updated with WSO2 security advisories and apply patches promptly once released. 7) Conduct penetration testing focused on federated authentication flows to identify any residual weaknesses. These steps go beyond generic advice by focusing on configuration auditing, monitoring, and identity verification enhancements specific to the vulnerability's exploitation path.

Description

Multiple WSO2 products have been identified as vulnerable to perform user impersonatoin using JIT provisioning. In order for this vulnerability to have any impact on your deployment, following conditions must be met: * An IDP configured for federated authentication and JIT provisioning enabled with the "Prompt for username, password and consent" option. * A service provider that uses the above IDP for federated authentication and has the "Assert identity using mapped local subject identifier" flag enabled. Attacker should have: * A fresh valid user account in the federated IDP that has not been used earlier. * Knowledge of the username of a valid user in the local IDP. When all preconditions are met, a malicious actor could use JIT provisioning flow to perform user impersonation.

Impact

For European organizations using WSO2 API Manager with federated authentication and JIT provisioning configured as described, this vulnerability poses a significant risk. Successful exploitation could lead to user impersonation, allowing attackers to access sensitive data or perform actions with the privileges of the impersonated user. This can compromise confidentiality and potentially lead to unauthorized data access or leakage, especially in regulated sectors such as finance, healthcare, or government where identity assurance is critical. The scope change in the CVSS vector indicates that the vulnerability could affect resources beyond the initially compromised component, amplifying the impact. Given the high confidentiality impact and the possibility of lateral movement within an organization’s network, this vulnerability could undermine trust in federated identity systems and complicate compliance with European data protection regulations such as GDPR. However, the exploitation requires specific configurations and some attacker prerequisites, which may limit widespread impact but does not eliminate risk for targeted attacks.

CWE-863Incorrect Authorization (opens in a new tab)
Class weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #17OWASP Top 10 A01:2025: Broken Access Control (opens in a new tab)
The product performs an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action, but it does not correctly perform the check.
Architecture and Design
Divide the product into anonymous, normal, privileged, and administrative areas. Reduce the attack surface by carefully mapping roles with data and functionality. Use role-based access control (RBAC) to enforce the roles at the appropriate boundaries.
Architecture and Design
Ensure that access control checks are performed related to the business logic. These checks may be different than the access control checks that are applied to more generic resources such as files, connections, processes, memory, and database records.
Architecture and Design · Libraries or Frameworks
Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Authorization (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V8.3.8 (opens in a new tab)
V13.4.2 (opens in a new tab)
V7.2.2 (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

security.docs.wso2.com/en/latest/security-announcements/security-advisories/2022/WSO2-2021-1573/ (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 7 Jul 2025, 03:39 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-863

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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