# CVE-2023-20038: Hardcoded credentials in Cisco Industrial Network Director

> A local attacker can exploit a static key in Cisco Industrial Network Director to decrypt stored credentials and access monitored remote systems.

- **Severity:** High 8.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 19 Jan 2023
- **Updated:** 28 Oct 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-j9p6-6m27-5xwj

## What is CVE-2023-20038?

CVE-2023-20038 is a high-severity vulnerability in Cisco Industrial Network Director, published on 19 Jan 2023. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability in the monitoring application of Cisco Industrial Network Director could allow an authenticated, local attacker to access a static secret key used to store both local data and credentials for accessing remote systems.

 This vulnerability is due to a static key value stored in the application used to encrypt application data and remote credentials. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by gaining local access to the server Cisco Industrial Network Director is installed on. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to decrypt data allowing the attacker to access remote systems monitored by Cisco Industrial Network Director.

Weakness: CWE-798 (Use of Hard-coded Credentials), CWE-321 (Use of Hard-coded Cryptographic Key)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-20038?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Cisco Industrial Network Director.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-20038?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-20038 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-20038 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-20038 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Cisco Industrial Network Director

- [CVE-2023-20036](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-20036/): Cisco Industrial Network Director Command Injection Vulnerability (critical 9.9)
- [CVE-2019-1976](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-1976/): Cisco Industrial Network Director Configuration Data Information Disclosure Vulnerability (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2019-1861](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-1861/): Cisco Industrial Network Director Remote Code Execution Vulnerability (high 7.2)
- [CVE-2020-3567](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-3567/): Cisco Industrial Network Director Denial of Service Vulnerability (medium 6.5)
- [CVE-2019-15973](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-15973/): Cisco Industrial Network Director Reflected Cross-Site Scripting Vulnerability (medium 6.1)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-20038 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-20038 is a high-severity vulnerability in Cisco Industrial Network Director, published on 19 Jan 2023. 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-2023-20038 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Cisco Industrial Network Director. 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-2023-20038/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-20038/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-20038
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-20038
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-20038

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-20038/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.