CVE-2020-3393
Cisco IOS XE Software IOx Application Hosting Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
- Published
- Updated
- Reserved
- Assigned by
- cisco
Description
A vulnerability in the application-hosting subsystem of Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to elevate privileges to root on an affected device. The attacker could execute IOS XE commands outside the application-hosting subsystem Docker container as well as on the underlying Linux operating system. These commands could be run as the root user. The vulnerability is due to a combination of two factors: (a) incomplete input validation of the user payload of CLI commands, and (b) improper role-based access control (RBAC) when commands are issued at the command line within the application-hosting subsystem. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by using a CLI command with crafted user input. A successful exploit could allow the lower-privileged attacker to execute arbitrary CLI commands with root privileges. The attacker would need valid user credentials to exploit this vulnerability.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| ciscoCNA (assigner) | 3.1 | Medium6.0 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N |
| NVDNVD · Modified | 3.1 | High7.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 0.34% · top 72% of all CVEs (6 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: none · Automatable: no · Technical impact: total
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Medium 6.0.
Weakness
Affected products
- affected n/a
What to do
Exploitation: The Cisco Product Security Incident Response Team (PSIRT) is not aware of any public announcements or malicious use of the vulnerability that is described in this advisory.
References (1)
- 20200924 Cisco IOS XE Software IOx Application Hosting Privilege Escalation Vulnerability (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_CISCOx_transferred
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://trackcve.app/cve/CVE-2020-3393)Record last updated .