# CVE-2023-20100: Cisco IOS XE Software for Wireless LAN Controllers CAPWAP Join Denial of Service Vulnerability

> An unauthenticated remote attacker can cause a denial of service on Cisco IOS XE Wireless LAN Controllers by manipulating the CAPWAP AP joining process.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/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:** 23 Mar 2023
- **Updated:** 25 Oct 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-hgvf-mqv4-fv8v

## What is CVE-2023-20100?

CVE-2023-20100 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Cisco Ios Xe, published on 23 Mar 2023. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability in the access point (AP) joining process of the Control and Provisioning of Wireless Access Points (CAPWAP) protocol of Cisco IOS XE Software for Wireless LAN Controllers (WLCs) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected device. This vulnerability is due to a logic error that occurs when certain conditions are met during the AP joining process. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by adding an AP that is under their control to the network. The attacker then must ensure that the AP successfully joins an affected wireless controller under certain conditions. Additionally, the attacker would need the ability to restart a valid AP that was previously connected to the controller. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the affected device to restart unexpectedly, resulting in a DoS condition.

Weakness: CWE-694 (Use of Multiple Resources with Duplicate Identifier)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-20100?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Cisco Ios Xe.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-20100?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-20100 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-20100 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-20100 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## 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-2023-20100 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-20100 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Cisco Ios Xe, published on 23 Mar 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-2023-20100 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-2023-20100/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-20100/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-20100
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-20100
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-20100

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-20100/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.