Threats / ZKTeco / CVE-2023-38950
CVE-2023-38950
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-08-04
ZKTeco BioTime vulnerability
ZKTeco BioTime contains an unauthenticated path traversal vulnerability in the iclock API allowing arbitrary file read access via crafted payloads.
Verdict
Today item — known-exploited.
An unauthenticated remote attacker can exploit path traversal in the iclock API to read sensitive files from the affected system without authentication, enabling reconnaissance and potential credential theft.
CISA KEV Yes · 2025-05-194EPSS 0.84578 (verify live)5CVSS 7.5 (CISA)3CISA SSVC Exploitation: active · Automatable: yes · Impact: partial3Exploit Public PoC / detection · nuclei template12
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreReported exploitation
18 independent public reports of in-the-wild exploitation are cataloged.Distinct reporting sources (vendor, incident response, government); open them for the underlying claims.
Exploited in the wild
Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2025-05-19).
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.84578 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
CVSS 7.5 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N) · Affected: ZKTeco, BioTime. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.CVSS — CISA-assigned via the ADP container (CVE.org), version 3.1; the CNA left no metrics, so CISA's own score is used ahead of NVD.
Weakness (CWE)
Mapped to CWE-22 Path Traversal — weakness family: Path traversal / file.CWE assignment from the public NVD record (may be stale); the weakness class drives how the flaw is exploited.
CISA SSVC (triage disposition)
Exploitation: active · Automatable: yes · Technical Impact: partialCISA's own stakeholder-specific triage inputs, published in the CVE record (CISA Coordinator role). NOTE: this is CISA's three decision points; the final Act/Attend/Track decision also requires a Mission & Well-being input not published here, so no overall decision is asserted.
Currency of the record
CISA added this to its KEV catalog 655 days after the CVE record was published.KEV lag = CISA-KEV dateAdded − CVE.org datePublished; a floor on how long the known-exploited flaw sat in the public record before the federal catalog listed it. Severity/weakness here is CNA- or CISA-assigned (current at disclosure), independent of NVD's analysis backlog.
Public exploit available
Public exploit tooling is catalogued for this CVE (a public proof-of-concept / detection template). Catalog entries: nuclei template. We link the catalog page(s) only — no payload or code is hosted or restated here.Link, never host — the catalog page is the source; basicsecurity.net does not redistribute payloads.
02
Who’s exploiting it?
— attribution turns risk into urgencyAttribution not established
No confirmed (advisory-backed) threat-actor attribution is established for this record. Absence of a named actor is not absence of compromise — see Coverage & confidence.
03
Why it matters
— the attack path, told twice: adversary, then board1
Front door — unauthenticated access narrative 1
Attacker
I craft a malicious request to the iclock API using path traversal sequences to escape the intended directory.
Business
Sensitive configuration files, credentials, and system data become accessible to unauthorized parties.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I read arbitrary files from the server to identify additional attack vectors and extract authentication material.
Business
Compromised credentials enable lateral movement and escalation of the initial breach scope.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
I leverage obtained information to access other systems or services integrated with BioTime.
Business
The vulnerability becomes a pivot point for broader infrastructure compromise affecting multiple business functions.
04
What to do
— defensible action- Remediate per the vendor advisory — confirm the fixed build for your version and verify exposure.1
Say it to the boardA vulnerability with this evidence profile is a defensible budget line, not a backlog ticket — fund the change against the proof above.
05