CVE-2023-38120 | Adtran SR400ac ping Command Injection Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Adtran SR400ac ping Command Injection Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. This vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected installations of Adtran SR400ac routers. Although authentication is required to exploit this vulnerability, the existing authentication mechanism can be bypassed. The specific flaw exists within the ping command, which is available over JSON-RPC. A crafted host parameter can trigger execution of a system call composed from a user-supplied string. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to execute code in the context of root. . Was ZDI-CAN-20525.

Published: 2024-05-03 Last update: 2025-08-12 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2023-38120 is rated High Risk (66.5/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 3.17%). EPSS rose +1.05% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. High exploitation likelihood—assess exposure and prioritize remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-38120

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 2.11% 3.17% +1.05%
2 2025-11-21 4.30% 2.11% -2.19%
3 2025-11-18 — 4.30% —

Full EPSS history (17 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-38120

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
8.8 3.0 HIGH
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 2.8 5.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-38120

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-38120

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
adtran sr400ac_firmware 10.8.5.1 cpe:2.3:o:adtran:sr400ac_firmware:10.8.5.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
adtran sr400ac_firmware 10.8.8.1 cpe:2.3:o:adtran:sr400ac_firmware:10.8.8.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-38120

cvelogic Threat Intelligence