Two critical vulnerabilities, namely CVE-2023-38401 and CVE-2023-38402, have been identified in HPE Aruba Networking’s Virtual Intranet Access (VIA) client for Microsoft Windows, allowing potential attackers to overwrite arbitrary files. In response, HPE Aruba Networking has released an upgrade to address these high-severity vulnerabilities, emphasizing that no viable workarounds are available. However, it’s important to note that versions of the Networking Virtual Intranet Access (VIA) client that have reached the End of Maintenance (EoM) milestone remain unpatched and vulnerable.
Furthermore, the first vulnerability, CVE-2023-38401, with a CVSS score of 7.8 indicating high severity, exposes a local privilege escalation flaw in the VIA client, which could be exploited by local users to gain elevated privileges. Will Dormann, who contributed to Networking’s Bug Bounty Program, discovered and reported this vulnerability, which, if exploited successfully, could lead to the execution of arbitrary code with NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM privileges on the operating system, according to Aruba Networks’ advisory.
Additionally, the second vulnerability, CVE-2023-38402, is tracked with a CVSS score of 7.1 and involves an arbitrary file overwrite flaw within the VIA client. Malicious users can potentially manipulate the NT AUTHORITY SYSTEM to overwrite arbitrary files. Gee-netics, a participant in the HPE Aruba Networking Bug Bounty Program, identified and reported this flaw, which could enable malicious users to create a Denial-of-Service (DoS) condition affecting the Microsoft Windows Operating System boot process, as stated in the advisory.
Customers using Networking Virtual Intranet Access (VIA) on Microsoft Windows, specifically version 4.5.0 and below, are at risk from these vulnerabilities. Users of other operating systems, however, are not impacted by these flaws. To mitigate these vulnerabilities, HPE Aruba Networking advises affected users to update their VIA client to version 4.6.0 or higher, providing a solution to the potential risks posed by these exploits.
