# CVE-2022-20661: Cisco Catalyst Digital Building Series Switches and Cisco Catalyst Micro Switches Vulnerabilities

> Attackers can execute persistent code at boot time or cause permanent denial of service on Cisco Catalyst switches.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.6 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 15 Apr 2022
- **Updated:** 6 Nov 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-rpx6-495p-fq5g

## What is CVE-2022-20661?

CVE-2022-20661 is a medium-severity code injection vulnerability in Cisco Ios, published on 15 Apr 2022. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Multiple vulnerabilities that affect Cisco Catalyst Digital Building Series Switches and Cisco Catalyst Micro Switches could allow an attacker to execute persistent code at boot time or to permanently prevent the device from booting, resulting in a permanent denial of service (DoS) condition. For more information about these vulnerabilities, see the Details section of this advisory.

Weakness: CWE-665 (Improper Initialization), CWE-1221 (Incorrect Register Defaults or Module Parameters)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-20661?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Cisco Ios.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-20661?

No fix has been published for CVE-2022-20661 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2022-20661 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-20661 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Cisco Ios

- [CVE-2017-12240](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-12240/): Cisco IOS and IOS XE Software DHCP Remote Code Execution (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2017-3881](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-3881/): Cisco IOS and IOS XE Remote Code Execution (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2018-0167](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-0167/): Cisco IOS, XR, and XE Software Buffer Overflow (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2017-6736](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-6736/): Cisco IOS and IOS XE Software SNMP Remote Code Execution (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2017-6737](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-6737/): Cisco IOS and IOS XE Software SNMP Remote Code Execution (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2022-20661 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-20661 is a medium-severity code injection vulnerability in Cisco Ios, published on 15 Apr 2022. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-20661 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Cisco Ios. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-20661/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-20661/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-20661
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-20661
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-20661

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-20661/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.