CVE-2023-20198
Cisco is providing an update for the ongoing investigation into observed exploitation of the web UI feature in Cisco IOS XE Software. We…
- Published
- Updated
- Reserved
- Assigned by
- cisco
Description
Cisco is providing an update for the ongoing investigation into observed exploitation of the web UI feature in Cisco IOS XE Software. We are updating the list of fixed releases and adding the Software Checker. Our investigation has determined that the actors exploited two previously unknown issues. The attacker first exploited CVE-2023-20198 to gain initial access and issued a privilege 15 command to create a local user and password combination. This allowed the user to log in with normal user access. The attacker then exploited another component of the web UI feature, leveraging the new local user to elevate privilege to root and write the implant to the file system. Cisco has assigned CVE-2023-20273 to this issue. CVE-2023-20198 has been assigned a CVSS Score of 10.0. CVE-2023-20273 has been assigned a CVSS Score of 7.2. Both of these CVEs are being tracked by CSCwh87343.
Exploited in the wild
CISA lists this vulnerability in its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog as Cisco IOS XE Web UI Privilege Escalation Vulnerability.
- Added
- 16 Oct 2023
- Fix due (US federal)
- 20 Oct 2023
- Used by ransomware
- Not known
Verify that instances of Cisco IOS XE Web UI are in compliance with BOD 23-02 and apply mitigations per vendor instructions. For affected products (Cisco IOS XE Web UI exposed to the internet or to untrusted networks), follow vendor instructions to determine if a system may have been compromised and immediately report positive findings to CISA.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| ciscoCNA (assigner) | 3.1 | Critical10.0 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| NVDNVD · Analyzed | 3.1 | Critical10.0 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 99.6% · top 0.1% of all CVEs (6 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: active · Automatable: yes · Technical impact: total
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Critical 10.0.
Weakness
Affected products
- affected 16.1.1
- affected 16.1.2
- affected 16.1.3
- affected 16.2.1
- affected 16.2.2
- affected 16.3.1
- affected 16.3.2
- affected 16.3.3
- affected 16.3.1a
- affected 16.3.4
- affected 16.3.5
- affected 16.3.5b
- affected 16.3.6
- affected 16.3.7
- affected 16.3.8
- affected 16.3.9
- affected 16.3.10
- affected 16.3.11
- affected 16.4.1
- affected 16.4.2
- affected 16.4.3
- affected 16.5.1
- affected 16.5.1a
- affected 16.5.1b
- affected 16.5.2
- affected 16.5.3
- affected 16.6.1
- affected 16.6.2
- affected 16.6.3
- affected 16.6.4
- affected 16.6.5
- affected 16.6.4a
- affected 16.6.5a
- affected 16.6.6
- affected 16.6.7
- affected 16.6.8
- affected 16.6.9
- affected 16.6.10
- affected 16.7.1
- affected 16.7.1a
- and 146 more
What to do
Exploitation: Cisco is aware of active exploitation of these vulnerabilities.
References (2)
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)
- CISA KEV catalog (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-2023-20198)Record last updated .