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

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

- **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:** 27 Sep 2023
- **Updated:** 18 Jun 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-2633-hpcr-wxff

## 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 (Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-20033?

It affects 1 product.


Products: 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.

## Is CVE-2023-20033 being exploited?

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

## 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-2023-20033 and fix it if it is affected.

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

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-2023-20033/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-20033/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-20033
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-20033
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-20033

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-20033/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.