CVE-2023-46805: Ivanti Connect Secure Auth Bypass Flaw

CVE-2023-46805 Overview

An authentication bypass vulnerability in the web component of Ivanti ICS 9.x, 22.x and Ivanti Policy Secure allows a remote attacker to access restricted resources by bypassing control checks.

Critical Impact

Unauthorized access to sensitive resources within Ivanti Connect Secure environments.

Affected Products

• Ivanti Connect Secure 9.x
• Ivanti Connect Secure 22.x
• Ivanti Policy Secure

Discovery Timeline

• 2024-01-12 - CVE-2023-46805 published to NVD
• 2025-10-31 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2023-46805

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability is classified as an authentication bypass within the web component of Ivanti Connect Secure. Attackers can exploit this issue to bypass authentication mechanisms, allowing unauthorized access to sensitive resources.

Root Cause

The root cause lies in improper validation of authentication tokens within the application, which could allow malicious actors to gain access without valid credentials.

Attack Vector

The attack can be executed remotely via network, targeting the affected Ivanti systems' web interfaces.

# Example exploitation code (sanitized)
import requests

url = "http://ivanti-device/vpn/auth"
headers = {
    'Authorization': 'Bearer fake-token'
}

response = requests.get(url, headers=headers)

if response.status_code == 200:
    print("Access granted")
else:
    print("Access denied")

Detection Methods for CVE-2023-46805

Indicators of Compromise

• Excessive unauthorized access attempts
• Unusual log entries related to authentication
• Requests with suspiciously malformed tokens

Detection Strategies

Employ network traffic analysis tools to monitor and flag unauthorized access attempts and malformed authentication tokens.

Monitoring Recommendations

Enable detailed logging of authentication events and review logs regularly for anomalies associated with bypass attempts.

How to Mitigate CVE-2023-46805

Immediate Actions Required

• Update Ivanti Connect Secure and Policy Secure to the latest patched versions.
• Implement additional access controls such as multi-factor authentication.
• Conduct a review of currently logged-in sessions and terminate any suspicious ones immediately.

Patch Information

Ivanti has released security patches addressing this issue. Administrators should apply these updates as soon as possible.

Workarounds

Disable external access to the affected components until patches are applied and consider enforcing strict firewall rules.

# Configuration example
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 443 -j DROP