CVE-2023-20198
Cisco IOS XE Web UI Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
This vulnerability is in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog: attackers are using it. If you run IOS XE Web UI, fix it now.
CISA 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.
US federal civilian agencies must remediate by Oct 20, 2023.
Patch status
No official fix confirmed yet
Until a fix ships, follow the vendor's mitigations and CISA's required action, limit exposure of affected systems, and watch this record for a patch.
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.
Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database. Official vulnerability data, reproduced as published.
Affected products
| Product | Vendor | Affected versions | Fixed in | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cisco networking & security | Cisco | >= 16.12, < 16.12.10a; >= 17.3, < 17.3.8a; >= 17.6, < 17.6.6a; >= 17.9, < 17.9.4a | 16.12.10a; 17.3.8a; 17.6.6a; 17.9.4a | NVD |
| IOS XE Web UI | Cisco | — | — | KEV |
Sources: NVD = NIST National Vulnerability Database; KEV = CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.
Intelligence timeline
Developments from the last 30 days, newest first.
- CVSS scoredUpdateKEV
CVE-2023-20198 scored CVSS 10.0: Cisco IOS XE Web UI, Cisco IOS XE Web UI Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
CISA lists this as exploited in the wild. Unpatched IOS XE Web UI systems are exposed to active attacks now.
Basis: NIST National Vulnerability Database
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Coverage
We have not published a story about this vulnerability yet.