A vulnerability in the Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA) feature of Cisco IOS Software and Cisco IOS XE Software could…

Description

A vulnerability in the Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA) feature of Cisco IOS Software and Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to bypass command authorization and copy files to or from the file system of an affected device using the Secure Copy Protocol (SCP). This vulnerability is due to incorrect processing of SCP commands in AAA command authorization checks. An attacker with valid credentials and level 15 privileges could exploit this vulnerability by using SCP to connect to an affected device from an external machine. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to obtain or change the configuration of the affected device and put files on or retrieve files from the affected device.

Scores

EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)

0.78% · top 44% 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: High 8.0.

Weakness

• CWE-285: Improper Authorization (opens in a new tab)All about CWE-285 and its CVEs

Affected products

• Cisco · IOS

  • affected 12.2(58)SE
  • affected 12.2(58)SE1
  • affected 12.2(58)SE2
  • affected 12.2(58)EX
  • affected 12.2(58)EY
  • affected 12.2(58)EY1
  • affected 12.2(58)EY2
  • affected 12.2(58)EZ
  • affected 12.2(60)EZ
  • affected 12.2(60)EZ1
  • affected 12.2(60)EZ2
  • affected 12.2(60)EZ3
  • affected 12.2(60)EZ4
  • affected 12.2(60)EZ5
  • affected 12.2(60)EZ6
  • affected 12.2(60)EZ7
  • affected 12.2(60)EZ8
  • affected 12.2(60)EZ9
  • affected 12.2(60)EZ10
  • affected 12.2(60)EZ11
  • affected 12.2(60)EZ12
  • affected 12.2(60)EZ13
  • affected 12.2(60)EZ14
  • affected 12.2(60)EZ15
  • affected 15.0(1)M1
  • affected 15.0(1)M5
  • affected 15.0(1)M4
  • affected 15.0(1)M3
  • affected 15.0(1)M2
  • affected 15.0(1)M6
  • affected 15.0(1)M
  • affected 15.0(1)M7
  • affected 15.0(1)M10
  • affected 15.0(1)M9
  • affected 15.0(1)M8
  • affected 15.0(1)XA2
  • affected 15.0(1)XA4
  • affected 15.0(1)XA1
  • affected 15.0(1)XA3
  • affected 15.0(1)XA
  • and 574 more

• Cisco · Cisco IOS XE Software

  • affected 3.7.0S
  • affected 3.7.1S
  • affected 3.7.2S
  • affected 3.7.3S
  • affected 3.7.4S
  • affected 3.7.5S
  • affected 3.7.6S
  • affected 3.7.7S
  • affected 3.7.4aS
  • affected 3.7.2tS
  • affected 3.7.0bS
  • affected 3.7.1aS
  • affected 3.3.0SG
  • affected 3.3.2SG
  • affected 3.3.1SG
  • affected 3.8.0S
  • affected 3.8.1S
  • affected 3.8.2S
  • affected 3.9.1S
  • affected 3.9.0S
  • affected 3.9.2S
  • affected 3.9.1aS
  • affected 3.9.0aS
  • affected 3.2.0SE
  • affected 3.2.1SE
  • affected 3.2.2SE
  • affected 3.2.3SE
  • affected 3.3.0SE
  • affected 3.3.1SE
  • affected 3.3.2SE
  • affected 3.3.3SE
  • affected 3.3.4SE
  • affected 3.3.5SE
  • affected 3.3.0XO
  • affected 3.3.1XO
  • affected 3.3.2XO
  • affected 3.4.0SG
  • affected 3.4.2SG
  • affected 3.4.1SG
  • affected 3.4.3SG
  • and 340 more

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)

• cisco-sa-aaascp-Tyj4fEJm (opens in a new tab)x_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

[![CVE-2023-20186](https://trackcve.app/badge/CVE-2023-20186.svg)](https://trackcve.app/cve/CVE-2023-20186)

Record last updated 16 Dec 2025, 18:23 UTC.