---
id: CVE-2023-4001
title: 'Grub2: bypass the grub password protection feature'
summary: >-
  An authentication bypass flaw was found in GRUB due to the way that GRUB uses
  the UUID of a device to search for the configuration file that contains the
  password hash for the GRUB password protection feature. An attacker capable of
  atta…
severity: medium
cvss: 6.8
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H'
cvssSource: cna
cwe:
  - CWE-290
vendor: Red Hat
product: grub2
affected:
  - grub2 (all versions)
  - grub2 (all versions)
  - grub2 (all versions)
  - grub2
ssvc:
  exploitation: none
  automatable: 'no'
  technicalImpact: total
  timestamp: '2024-01-22T19:43:22.277849Z'
published: '2024-01-15'
updated: '2026-11-07'
sourceUpdated: '2026-11-07T11:32:44.559Z'
source: CVEORG
sourceUrl: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-4001'
references:
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:0437'
    label: 'RHSA-2024:0437'
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:0456'
    label: 'RHSA-2024:0456'
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:0468'
    label: 'RHSA-2024:0468'
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-4001'
  - url: 'https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2224951'
    label: RHBZ#2224951
  - url: >-
      https://dfir.ru/2024/01/15/cve-2023-4001-a-vulnerability-in-the-downstream-grub-boot-manager/
tags:
  - cve.org
epss: 0.00542
epssPercentile: 0.45787
ingestedAt: '2026-11-07T12:16:41.107Z'
---

## Overview

An authentication bypass flaw was found in GRUB due to the way that GRUB uses the UUID of a device to search for the configuration file that contains the password hash for the GRUB password protection feature. An attacker capable of attaching an external drive such as a USB stick containing a file system with a duplicate UUID (the same as in the "/boot/" file system) can bypass the GRUB password protection feature on UEFI systems, which enumerate removable drives before non-removable ones. This issue was introduced in a downstream patch in Red Hat's version of grub2 and does not affect the upstream package.

## Affected

- `grub2 (all versions)`
- `grub2 (all versions)`
- `grub2 (all versions)`
- `grub2`

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.