CVE-2023-20033 Denial of service in Cisco IOS XE Software

High 8.6 Published 27 Sep 2023 Updated 18 Jun 2025

Unauthenticated remote attackers can cause Cisco Catalyst switches to reload by flooding the management interface, resulting in a denial of service.

Exploited in the wild: Not known
Login needed: Not needed
Attackable: Over the internet
Victim action needed: Not needed
Fix: None listed

What is CVE-2023-20033?

CVE-2023-20033 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Cisco Ios Xe, published on 27 Sep 2023. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

Official description

A vulnerability in Cisco IOS XE Software for Cisco Catalyst 3650 and Catalyst 3850 Series Switches could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause an affected device to reload unexpectedly, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition. This vulnerability is due to improper resource management when processing traffic that is received on the management interface. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a high rate of traffic to the management interface. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the device to reload, resulting in a DoS condition.

Weakness: CWE-770

Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-20033?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Cisco Ios Xe.

How do I fix CVE-2023-20033?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-20033 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.

Is CVE-2023-20033 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2023-20033 exists.

All Cisco Ios Xe vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as GHSA-2633-hpcr-wxff.