CVE-2023-38155

Local privilege escalation via MachinePropertyBag deserialization

Published Sep 12, 2023 · Updated Oct 30, 2025

Deserialization in MachinePropertyBag in Microsoft Azure DevOps Server allows local users to execute code as the service account. MachinePropertyBag fails to validate user-supplied data before deserializing it, permitting attacker-controlled objects to influence execution. Exploitation requires prior low-privileged code execution on the server and grants arbitrary code execution under the Azure DevOps service account.

CVSS severity7.0
High
EPSS probability1.32%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Deserialization in MachinePropertyBag in Microsoft Azure DevOps Server allows local users to execute code as the service account. MachinePropertyBag fails to validate user-supplied data before deserializing it, permitting attacker-controlled objects to influence execution. Exploitation requires prior low-privileged code execution on the server and grants arbitrary code execution under the Azure DevOps service account.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-38155
Published
Sep 12, 2023
Updated
Oct 30, 2025
Vendor
Microsoft
Product
Azure DevOps Server
Classifications
CWE-502, T1068
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Sep 12, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Oct 30, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=1.0.0 <20230825.1
  2. Affected versionversion=2019.0.0 <20230601.3
  3. Affected versionversion=2020.0.0 <20230820.2
  4. Affected versionversion=2020.1.0 <20230823.1
  5. Affected versionversion=2022.0.0 <20230825.4

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

Microsoft · Azure DevOps Serverversion=1.0.0 <20230825.1; version=2019.0.0 <20230601.3; version=2020.0.0 <20230820.2; version=2020.1.0 <20230823.1; version=2022.0.0 <20230825.4

Published CVSS scores

8.1NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
7.0Microsoft CorporationCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-502Deserialization of Untrusted Data
T1068Exploitation for Privilege Escalation

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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