CVE-2023-28342

7.5 HIGH

📋 TL;DR

This vulnerability in Zoho ManageEngine ADSelfService Plus allows unauthenticated attackers to cause denial-of-service via the Mobile App Authentication API. It affects organizations using ADSelfService Plus for self-service password management and authentication. The attack can disrupt legitimate user access to authentication services.

💻 Affected Systems

Products:
  • Zoho ManageEngine ADSelfService Plus
Versions: All versions before 6218
Operating Systems: Windows, Linux
Default Config Vulnerable: ⚠️ Yes
Notes: Affects all deployments with Mobile App Authentication enabled (default configuration).

📦 What is this software?

⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact

🔴

Worst Case

Complete service disruption preventing all users from authenticating via mobile apps, potentially affecting business operations that rely on this authentication method.

🟠

Likely Case

Temporary service degradation or outages affecting mobile authentication capabilities, requiring service restart.

🟢

If Mitigated

Minimal impact with proper network segmentation and rate limiting in place.

🌐 Internet-Facing: HIGH - The Mobile App Authentication API is typically exposed to the internet for legitimate mobile app functionality.
🏢 Internal Only: MEDIUM - Internal attackers could still exploit this, but external threat is higher.

🎯 Exploit Status

Public PoC: ✅ No
Weaponized: LIKELY
Unauthenticated Exploit: ⚠️ Yes
Complexity: LOW

Simple API request can trigger the DoS condition without authentication.

🛠️ Fix & Mitigation

✅ Official Fix

Patch Version: 6218 and later

Vendor Advisory: https://www.manageengine.com/products/self-service-password/advisory/CVE-2023-28342.html

Restart Required: Yes

Instructions:

1. Download ADSelfService Plus version 6218 or later from ManageEngine website. 2. Stop the ADSelfService Plus service. 3. Install the update. 4. Restart the service.

🔧 Temporary Workarounds

Disable Mobile App Authentication

all

Temporarily disable the vulnerable Mobile App Authentication API feature

Navigate to Admin > Mobile App Settings > Disable Mobile App Authentication

Implement Rate Limiting

all

Configure web server or WAF to limit requests to the Mobile App Authentication API endpoint

🧯 If You Can't Patch

  • Implement strict network segmentation to limit access to the ADSelfService Plus server
  • Deploy a WAF with rate limiting and DoS protection rules for the Mobile App Authentication API endpoint

🔍 How to Verify

Check if Vulnerable:

Check ADSelfService Plus version in Admin Console > About. If version is below 6218, system is vulnerable.

Check Version:

In ADSelfService Plus web interface: Admin > About

Verify Fix Applied:

Verify version is 6218 or higher in Admin Console > About and test Mobile App Authentication functionality.

📡 Detection & Monitoring

Log Indicators:

  • High volume of requests to /MobileAppAuthenticationAPI endpoint
  • Service restart events in application logs
  • Error logs indicating authentication service failures

Network Indicators:

  • Unusual traffic spikes to Mobile App Authentication API endpoint
  • Repeated requests from single IP addresses to authentication endpoints

SIEM Query:

source="ADSelfServicePlus" AND (uri_path="/MobileAppAuthenticationAPI" OR message="authentication failure") | stats count by src_ip

🔗 References

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