# CVE-2022-20683: Denial of service in Cisco IOS XE Software

> Unauthenticated remote attackers can cause a denial of service on Cisco Catalyst 9800 wireless controllers by sending crafted packets.

- **Severity:** High 8.6 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 15 Apr 2022
- **Updated:** 6 Nov 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-4p4h-xvff-9p66

## What is CVE-2022-20683?

CVE-2022-20683 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Cisco Ios Xe, published on 15 Apr 2022. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability in the Application Visibility and Control (AVC-FNF) feature of Cisco IOS XE Software for Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected device. This vulnerability is due to insufficient packet verification for traffic inspected by the AVC feature. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending crafted packets from the wired network to a wireless client, resulting in the crafted packets being processed by the wireless controller. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause a crash and reload of the affected device, resulting in a DoS condition.

Weakness: CWE-787 (Out-of-bounds Write), CWE-124 (Buffer Underwrite)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-20683?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Cisco Ios Xe.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-20683?

No fix has been published for CVE-2022-20683 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2022-20683 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-20683 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Cisco Ios Xe

- [CVE-2023-20198](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-20198/): Cisco IOS XE Web UI Privilege Escalation (critical 10.0, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2018-0151](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-0151/): Cisco IOS Software and Cisco IOS XE Software Quality of Service Remote Code Execution (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2023-20273](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-20273/): Cisco IOS XE Web UI Command Injection (high 7.2, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-20188](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-20188/): Hardcoded credentials in Cisco IOS XE Software (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2021-34770](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-34770/): Cisco IOS XE Software for Catalyst 9000 Family Wireless Controllers CAPWAP Remote Code Execution Vulnerability (critical 10.0)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2022-20683 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-20683 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Cisco Ios Xe, published on 15 Apr 2022. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-20683 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Cisco Ios Xe. 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-2022-20683/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-20683/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-20683
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-20683
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-20683

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-20683/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.