CVE•Published 2023-09-12•Modified 2026-08-04•1 article on news•5 live references•NVD data

CVE-2023-4501Microfocus · Cobol_server

Vulnerability data via NVD (ingested)

CVSS v3.1
9.8
CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS percentile
46
Exploit Prediction Scoring System · top 54% of all CVEs
Description

User authentication with username and password credentials is ineffective in OpenText (Micro Focus) Visual COBOL, COBOL Server, Enterprise Developer, and Enterprise Server (including product variants such as Enterprise Test Server), versions 7.0 patch updates 19 and 20, 8.0 patch updates 8 and 9, and 9.0 patch update 1, when LDAP-based authentication is used with certain configurations. When the vulnerability is active, authentication succeeds with any valid username, regardless of whether the password is correct; it may also succeed with an invalid username (and any password). This allows an attacker with access to the product to impersonate any user. Mitigations: The issue is corrected in the upcoming patch update for each affected product. Product overlays and workaround instructions are available through OpenText Support. The vulnerable configurations are believed to be uncommon. Administrators can test for the vulnerability in their installations by attempting to sign on to a Visual COBOL or Enterprise Server component such as ESCWA using a valid username and incorrect password.

Timeline
Published 2023-09-12
Modified 2026-08-04

External references

Search for exposed instances

Shodan + Censys queries derived from NVD's CPE data. The vuln tag catches assets Shodan has explicitly linked to this CVE; the product / banner fingerprints find exposed instances even when the vuln tag was never applied (which is common).

More intel sources (5)

Known PoCs on GitHub (3)