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IMMUNITYSEC

CVE-2023-20198

10.0
CRITICAL
CVSS 3.1
EPSS 99.6% · 100th pctCISA KEV · Exploited in the wild
2023-10-16•Updated 2025-10-21•KEV 2023-10-16
CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities

Cisco IOS XE Web UI Privilege Escalation Vulnerability is confirmed as actively exploited and is listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

Added to KEV
2023-10-16
Remediation due
2023-10-20

Required action
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.

CISA notes
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/ios-nx-os-software/ios-xe-dublin-17121/221128-software-fix-availability-for-cisco-ios.html; https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-20198

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.

Severity

CVSS 3.1 · CNA10 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
SSVC · CISA-ADP
Exploitationactive
Automatableyes
Technical impacttotal

Affected Products

VendorProductAffected versions
CiscoCisco IOS XE Software
16.1.1
16.1.2
16.1.3
16.2.1
16.2.2
16.3.1
16.3.2
16.3.3
16.3.1a
16.3.4
16.3.5
16.3.5b
16.3.6
16.3.7
16.3.8
16.3.9
16.3.10
16.3.11
16.4.1
16.4.2
16.4.3
16.5.1
16.5.1a
16.5.1b
16.5.2
16.5.3
16.6.1
16.6.2
16.6.3
16.6.4
16.6.5
16.6.4a
16.6.5a
16.6.6
16.6.7
16.6.8
16.6.9
16.6.10
16.7.1
16.7.1a
16.7.1b
16.7.2
16.7.3
16.7.4
16.8.1
16.8.1a
16.8.1b
16.8.1s
16.8.1c
16.8.1d
16.8.2
16.8.1e
16.8.3
16.9.1
16.9.2
16.9.1a
16.9.1b
16.9.1s
16.9.3
16.9.4
16.9.3a
16.9.5
16.9.5f
16.9.6
16.9.7
16.9.8
16.10.1
16.10.1a
16.10.1b
16.10.1s
16.10.1c
16.10.1e
16.10.1d
16.10.2
16.10.1f
16.10.1g
16.10.3
16.11.1
16.11.1a
16.11.1b
16.11.2
16.11.1s
16.12.1
16.12.1s
16.12.1a
16.12.1c
16.12.1w
16.12.2
16.12.1y
16.12.2a
16.12.3
16.12.8
16.12.2s
16.12.1x
16.12.1t
16.12.4
16.12.3s
16.12.3a
16.12.4a
16.12.5
16.12.6
16.12.1z1
16.12.5a
16.12.5b
16.12.1z2
16.12.6a
16.12.7
16.12.9
16.12.10
17.1.1
17.1.1a
17.1.1s
17.1.1t
17.1.3
17.2.1
17.2.1r
17.2.1a
17.2.1v
17.2.2
17.2.3
17.3.1
17.3.2
17.3.3
17.3.1a
17.3.1w
17.3.2a
17.3.1x
17.3.1z
17.3.4
17.3.5
17.3.4a
17.3.6
17.3.4b
17.3.4c
17.3.5a
17.3.5b
17.3.7
17.3.8
17.4.1
17.4.2
17.4.1a
17.4.1b
17.4.2a
17.5.1
17.5.1a
17.5.1b
17.5.1c
17.6.1
17.6.2
17.6.1w
17.6.1a
17.6.1x
17.6.3
17.6.1y
17.6.1z
17.6.3a
17.6.4
17.6.1z1
17.6.5
17.6.6
17.7.1
17.7.1a
17.7.1b
17.7.2
17.10.1
17.10.1a
17.10.1b
17.8.1
17.8.1a
17.9.1
17.9.1w
17.9.2
17.9.1a
17.9.1x
17.9.1y
17.9.3
17.9.2a
17.9.1x1
17.9.3a
17.9.4
17.9.1y1
17.11.1
17.11.1a
17.12.1
17.12.1a
17.11.99SW

References

1 Links

Record Details

Published
2023-10-16
Last updated
2025-10-21
Assigner (CNA)
cisco
Credited to
-

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