CVE-2023-41914 in SLURM
Summary
by MITRE • 11/03/2023
SchedMD Slurm 23.02.x before 23.02.6 and 22.05.x before 22.05.10 allows filesystem race conditions for gaining ownership of a file, overwriting a file, or deleting files.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/02/2026
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2023-41914 affects SchedMD Slurm workload management systems version 23.02.x before 23.02.6 and 22.05.x before 22.05.10, representing a critical filesystem race condition flaw that undermines the integrity and security of file operations within high-performance computing environments. This vulnerability stems from improper handling of file system operations during job execution and resource management processes, creating opportunities for malicious actors to exploit timing gaps in file access controls and permissions management. The race condition occurs when multiple processes attempt to access or modify files simultaneously, leading to unpredictable behavior that can result in unauthorized file manipulation. Such vulnerabilities are particularly dangerous in HPC clusters where multiple users submit jobs concurrently and where file system integrity directly impacts computational workflows and data security.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves the improper synchronization mechanisms within Slurm's job scheduling and file management subsystems, where file operations lack adequate atomicity guarantees during file creation, modification, or deletion processes. Attackers can exploit these race conditions by carefully timing their actions to intercept file system operations and manipulate file ownership, potentially overwriting critical system files or gaining unauthorized access to sensitive data. The flaw manifests when Slurm's job execution environment creates temporary files or modifies existing files without proper locking mechanisms, allowing concurrent processes to interfere with each other's operations. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-367, which describes Time-of-Check to Time-of-Use (TOCTOU) race conditions, and represents a classic example of inadequate file system access control implementation. The attack surface is particularly broad in multi-user HPC environments where job scheduling and resource allocation processes interact with shared file systems.
The operational impact of CVE-2023-41914 extends beyond simple file corruption, potentially enabling complete system compromise through privilege escalation or data manipulation attacks. An attacker exploiting this vulnerability could gain unauthorized file ownership, overwrite critical system binaries or configuration files, or delete essential job-related data, leading to service disruption or complete system compromise. In large-scale HPC environments, this vulnerability could be leveraged to disrupt computational workflows, steal sensitive research data, or establish persistent access points within the cluster infrastructure. The vulnerability also creates opportunities for attackers to manipulate job execution environments, potentially injecting malicious code into computational processes or redirecting job outputs to unauthorized locations. According to ATT&CK framework, this vulnerability maps to techniques involving privilege escalation and persistence through file system manipulation, making it particularly dangerous in environments where Slurm manages sensitive computational resources and where job integrity is paramount for research and development operations.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including applying the vendor-provided patches for Slurm versions 23.02.6 and 22.05.10, which address the race condition through improved file locking mechanisms and atomic file operations. System administrators should also consider implementing additional monitoring and logging around file system operations within Slurm environments, particularly for temporary files and job-related directories. The vulnerability highlights the importance of proper race condition handling in distributed systems and underscores the need for comprehensive security testing of file system operations in high-performance computing environments. Organizations should also review their current Slurm configurations to ensure that file system permissions and access controls are properly enforced, and consider implementing additional security controls such as file integrity monitoring and regular security audits of the job scheduling infrastructure. The remediation process should include comprehensive testing to ensure that the patches do not introduce regressions in job scheduling or resource management functionality while maintaining the security improvements necessary to prevent exploitation of this race condition vulnerability.