# CVE-2023-20076: Cisco IOx Application Hosting Environment Command Injection Vulnerability

> Authenticated attackers can execute arbitrary root commands on the host OS via crafted activation payloads in Cisco IOx.

- **Severity:** High 7.2 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 12 Feb 2023
- **Updated:** 28 Oct 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-q7pv-4cxx-gq42

## What is CVE-2023-20076?

CVE-2023-20076 is a high-severity command injection vulnerability in Cisco Ios Xe, published on 12 Feb 2023. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability in the Cisco IOx application hosting environment could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to execute arbitrary commands as root on the underlying host operating system. This vulnerability is due to incomplete sanitization of parameters that are passed in for activation of an application. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by deploying and activating an application in the Cisco IOx application hosting environment with a crafted activation payload file. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands as root on the underlying host operating system.

Weakness: CWE-78 (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command), CWE-233 (Improper Handling of Parameters)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-20076?

It affects 9 products.


Products: Cisco 807 Industrial Integrated Services Router Firmware, Cisco 809 Industrial Integrated Services Router Firmware, Cisco 829 Industrial Integrated Services Router Firmware, Cisco Cgr1000 Firmware, Cisco Cgr1240 Firmware, Cisco Ic3000 Industrial Compute Gateway, Cisco Ios Xe, Cisco Iox, Cisco Ir510 Wpan Firmware.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-20076?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-20076 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-20076 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-20076 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Cisco Ios Xe

- [CVE-2025-20196](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-20196/): Denial of service in Cisco IOS XE Software (medium 5.3)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-20076 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-20076 is a high-severity command injection vulnerability in Cisco Ios Xe, published on 12 Feb 2023. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-20076 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-2023-20076/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-20076/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-20076
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-20076
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-20076

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-20076/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.