CVE-2023-0242
HIGHVelociraptor vulnerable to Missing Authorization
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
Blast Radius
www.velocidex.com/golang/velociraptorReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Go packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Rapid7 Velociraptor allows users to be created with different privileges on the server. Administrators are generally allowed to run any command on the server including writing arbitrary files. However, lower privilege users are generally forbidden from writing or modifying files on the server.
The VQL copy() function applies permission checks for reading files but does not check for permission to write files. This allows a low privilege user (usually, users with the Velociraptor "investigator" role) to overwrite files on the server, including Velociraptor configuration files.
To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker must already have a Velociraptor user account at a low privilege level (at least "analyst") and be able to log into the GUI and create a notebook where they can run the VQL query invoking the copy() VQL function. Typically, most users deploy Velociraptor with limited access to a trusted group (most users will be administrators within the GUI). This vulnerability is associated with program files https://github.Com/Velocidex/velociraptor/blob/master/vql/filesystem/copy.go https://github.Com/Velocidex/velociraptor/blob/master/vql/filesystem/copy.go and program routines copy().
This issue affects Velociraptor versions before 0.6.7-5. Version 0.6.7-5, released January 16, 2023, fixes the issue.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | www.velocidex.com/golang/velociraptor | all versions | 0.6.7-5 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for www.velocidex.com/golang/velociraptor. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update www.velocidex.com/golang/velociraptor to 0.6.7-5 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-0242 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2023-0242 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to CVE-2023-0242. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2023-0242 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2023-0242 across Go dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.