# CVE-2023-20125: Cisco BroadWorks Network Server TCP Denial of Service Vulnerability

> Unauthenticated remote attackers can cause denial of service by exhausting TCP resources on Cisco BroadWorks Network Server.

- **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:** 15 Nov 2024
- **Updated:** 26 Nov 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-rhfh-m68w-rv9h

## What is CVE-2023-20125?

CVE-2023-20125 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Cisco BroadWorks, published on 15 Nov 2024. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability in the local interface of Cisco BroadWorks Network Server could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to exhaust system resources, causing a denial of service (DoS) condition.

This vulnerability exists because rate limiting does not occur for certain incoming TCP connections. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a high rate of TCP connections to the server. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause TCP connection resources to grow rapidly until the Cisco BroadWorks Network Server becomes unusable.
Note: To recover from this vulnerability, either Cisco BroadWorks Network Server software must be restarted or the Cisco BroadWorks Network Server node must be rebooted. For more information, see the  section of this advisory.
Cisco has released software updates that address this vulnerability. There are no workarounds that address this vulnerability.

Weakness: CWE-400 (Uncontrolled Resource Consumption)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-20125?


## How do I fix CVE-2023-20125?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-20125 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-20125 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-20125 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-20125 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-20125 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Cisco BroadWorks, published on 15 Nov 2024. 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-2023-20125 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Cisco BroadWorks. 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-2023-20125/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-20125/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-20125
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-20125
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-20125

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-20125/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.