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Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2023-46129

🗓️ 18 Aug 2025 00:00:00Reported by TenableType 
nessus
 nessus
🔗 www.tenable.com👁 2 Views

Linux unpatched CVE-2023-46129: NATS nkeys encryption bug yields zero key; patch in 0.4.6 and 2.10.4

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Refs
Code
#%NASL_MIN_LEVEL 80900
##
# (C) Tenable, Inc.
##

include('compat.inc');

if (description)
{
  script_id(250974);
  script_version("1.1");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_modification_date", value:"2025/08/18");

  script_cve_id("CVE-2023-46129");

  script_name(english:"Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2023-46129");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"synopsis", value:
"The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed with a vulnerability that the vendor indicates will not be
patched.");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"description", value:
"The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed that are impacted by a vulnerability without a vendor supplied
patch available.

  - NATS.io is a high performance open source pub-sub distributed communication technology, built for the
    cloud, on-premise, IoT, and edge computing. The cryptographic key handling library, nkeys, recently gained
    support for encryption, not just for signing/authentication. This is used in nats-server 2.10 (Sep 2023)
    and newer for authentication callouts. In nkeys versions 0.4.0 through 0.4.5, corresponding with NATS
    server versions 2.10.0 through 2.10.3, the nkeys library's `xkeys` encryption handling logic mistakenly
    passed an array by value into an internal function, where the function mutated that buffer to populate the
    encryption key to use. As a result, all encryption was actually to an all-zeros key. This affects
    encryption only, not signing. FIXME: FILL IN IMPACT ON NATS-SERVER AUTH CALLOUT SECURITY. nkeys Go library
    0.4.6, corresponding with NATS Server 2.10.4, has a patch for this issue. No known workarounds are
    available. For any application handling auth callouts in Go, if using the nkeys library, update the
    dependency, recompile and deploy that in lockstep. (CVE-2023-46129)

Note that Nessus relies on the presence of the package as reported by the vendor.");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"see_also", value:"https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-46129");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"solution", value:
"There is no known solution at this time.");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"agent", value:"unix");
  script_set_cvss_base_vector("CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N");
  script_set_cvss_temporal_vector("CVSS2#E:U/RL:OF/RC:C");
  script_set_cvss3_base_vector("CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N");
  script_set_cvss3_temporal_vector("CVSS:3.0/E:U/RL:O/RC:C");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cvss_score_source", value:"CVE-2023-46129");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"exploitability_ease", value:"No known exploits are available");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"exploit_available", value:"false");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"vendor_unpatched", value:"true");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"vuln_publication_date", value:"2023/10/30");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_publication_date", value:"2025/08/18");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_type", value:"local");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:20.04:-:lts");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:22.04:-:lts");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:golang-github-nats-io-nkeys");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"generated_plugin", value:"current");
  script_end_attributes();

  script_category(ACT_GATHER_INFO);
  script_family(english:"Misc.");

  script_copyright(english:"This script is Copyright (C) 2025 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof.");

  script_dependencies("ssh_get_info2.nasl", "set_linux_os_id.nasl");
  script_require_keys("Host/cpu", "Host/local_checks_enabled", "global_settings/vendor_unpatched", "Host/OS/identifier");
  script_require_ports("Host/OS/Ubuntu Linux-20.04", "Host/OS/Ubuntu Linux-22.04");

  exit(0);
}

if (!get_kb_item("global_settings/vendor_unpatched")) exit(0, "Unpatched Vulnerabilities Detection not active.");
if (!get_kb_item("Host/local_checks_enabled")) audit(AUDIT_LOCAL_CHECKS_NOT_ENABLED);
if (empty_or_null(get_one_kb_item("Host/Debian/dpkg-l"))) audit(AUDIT_PACKAGE_LIST_MISSING);

include('linux_unpatched.inc');

var distro_constraints_array = {
  "Ubuntu Linux-20.04": {
    "package_manager": "dpkg-l",
    "constraints": [
      {
        "release": "20.04",
        "pkgs": [
          {"reference": "golang-github-nats-io-nkeys"}
        ]
      }
    ]
  },
  "Ubuntu Linux-22.04": {
    "package_manager": "dpkg-l",
    "constraints": [
      {
        "release": "22.04",
        "pkgs": [
          {"reference": "golang-github-nats-io-nkeys"}
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
};

var distro_constraints_values = linux_unpatched::get_distro_constraints(distro_constraints_arr:distro_constraints_array);
if (empty_or_null(distro_constraints_values)) audit(AUDIT_HOST_NOT, 'affected');
var report = linux_unpatched::check_unpatched_constraints(distro_constraints_values:distro_constraints_values);

if (!empty_or_null(report))
{
  security_report_v4(
      port       : 0,
      severity   : SECURITY_WARNING,
      extra      : report
  );
  exit(0);
}
else
{
  audit(AUDIT_HOST_NOT, 'affected');
}

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18 Aug 2025 00:00Current
7.5High risk
Vulners AI Score7.5
CVSS 3.17.5
EPSS0.00149
SSVC
2