# CVE-2023-20020: Denial of service in Cisco BroadWorks

> Unauthenticated remote attackers can cause denial of service on Cisco BroadWorks platforms by sending crafted HTTP requests.

- **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:** 19 Jan 2023
- **Updated:** 2 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-5qj3-2mwp-vp67

## What is CVE-2023-20020?

CVE-2023-20020 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Cisco BroadWorks, published on 19 Jan 2023. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability in the Device Management Servlet application of Cisco BroadWorks Application Delivery Platform and Cisco BroadWorks Xtended Services Platform could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected device.

 This vulnerability is due to improper input validation when parsing HTTP requests. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a sustained stream of crafted requests to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause all subsequent requests to be dropped, resulting in a DoS condition.

Weakness: CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation), CWE-835 (Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-20020?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Cisco Broadworks Application Delivery Platform Device Management, Cisco Broadworks Xtended Services Platform.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-20020?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-20020 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-20020 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-20020 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-20020 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-20020 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Cisco BroadWorks, published on 19 Jan 2023. 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-2023-20020 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Cisco BroadWorks. 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-2023-20020/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-20020/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-20020
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-20020
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-20020

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-20020/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.