{"answers":{"affected":"It affects 2 products.","exploited":"There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-20178 in the wild and no public exploit code.","fix":"No fix has been published for CVE-2023-20178 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.","what":"CVE-2023-20178 is a high-severity vulnerability in Cisco Anyconnect Secure Mobility Client, published on 28 Jun 2023. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim."},"fix_prompt":"Check this codebase for CVE-2023-20178 and fix it if it is affected.\n\nWhat it is: CVE-2023-20178 is a high-severity vulnerability in Cisco Anyconnect Secure Mobility Client, published on 28 Jun 2023. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.\nExploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-20178 in the wild and no public exploit code.\n\nAffected product: Cisco Anyconnect Secure Mobility Client. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.\n\nTask:\n1. 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.\n2. 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.\n3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.\n4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.\n5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.\n\nReference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-20178/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-20178/index.md)","id":"CVE-2023-20178","markdown":"https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-20178/index.md","name":"CVE-2023-20178","record":{"aliases":["GHSA-6rj9-hcv7-94r5"],"analysis":{"component_type":"desktop_application","fix_type":"patch","impacts":["code_execution","privilege_escalation"],"network_reachable":"adjacent_or_local","non_default_config":false,"product_category":"Cisco Secure Client","requires_auth":"low_privilege","summary":"A local attacker can elevate privileges to SYSTEM by exploiting improper permissions in the client update process of Cisco Secure Client.","user_interaction":"not_required","vuln_class":"privilege_escalation"},"analysis_generated_by":"qwen3.8-flash-next","assigner":"cisco","cpe":[{"product":"anyconnect_secure_mobility_client","vendor":"cisco"},{"product":"secure_client","vendor":"cisco"}],"cvss":{"score":7.8,"severity":"high","source":"cna","vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H","version":"3.1"},"cwes":[{"id":"CWE-276","name":"Incorrect Default Permissions"}],"description":"A vulnerability in the client update process of Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client Software for Windows and Cisco Secure Client Software for Windows could allow a low-privileged, authenticated, local attacker to elevate privileges to those of SYSTEM. The client update process is executed after a successful VPN connection is established.\r\n\r This vulnerability exists because improper permissions are assigned to a temporary directory that is created during the update process. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by abusing a specific function of the Windows installer process. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute code with SYSTEM privileges.","ecosystems":[],"exploits":{"exploitdb":0,"first_seen":"2023-06-18","github_poc":1,"max_poc_stars":89,"metasploit":0,"nuclei":0,"refs":[{"date":"2023-06-18T12:22:57Z","kind":"github_poc","ref":"https://github.com/Wh04m1001/CVE-2023-20178","stars":89,"title":null}],"tier":"poc_unverified"},"has_fix":null,"headline":"Privilege escalation in Cisco Secure Client","id":"CVE-2023-20178","indexable":true,"kev":null,"kind":"cve","links":{"ecosystem":null,"product":"cisco:anyconnect_secure_mobility_client","products":["cisco:anyconnect_secure_mobility_client"],"type":"privilege_escalation","year":"2023"},"n_packages":0,"n_references":1,"next":{"headline":"Cross-site scripting in Cisco SD-WAN vManage","id":"CVE-2023-20179"},"packages":[],"prev":{"headline":"Denial of service in Cisco Firepower Threat Defense Software","id":"CVE-2023-20177"},"products":["Cisco Secure Client"],"published":"2023-06-28","related":[{"cvss_score":7.8,"headline":"Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client for Windows DLL Hijacking","id":"CVE-2020-3433","kev_date_added":"2022-10-24","published":"2020-08-17"},{"cvss_score":6.5,"headline":"Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client for Windows Uncontrolled Search Path","id":"CVE-2020-3153","kev_date_added":"2022-10-24","published":"2020-02-19"},{"cvss_score":9.3,"headline":"Security feature bypass in n/a","id":"CVE-2012-3088","kev_date_added":null,"published":"2012-09-16"},{"cvss_score":9.3,"headline":"Code injection in n/a","id":"CVE-2012-2493","kev_date_added":null,"published":"2012-06-20"},{"cvss_score":9.3,"headline":"Code injection in n/a","id":"CVE-2011-2040","kev_date_added":null,"published":"2011-06-02"},{"cvss_score":7.8,"headline":"Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client for Windows with VPN Posture (HostScan) Module DLL Hijacking Vulnerability","id":"CVE-2021-1366","kev_date_added":null,"published":"2021-02-17"}],"sources":[{"class":"attribution","licence":"CVE Terms of Use (MITRE)","name":"CVE List","prefix":"CVE"},{"class":"attribution","licence":"US public information, NVD API terms","name":"NVD"},{"class":"attribution","licence":"CWE Terms of Use","name":"CWE (MITRE)"},{"class":"attribution","licence":"FIRST CVSS licence","name":"CVSS (FIRST)"},{"class":"open","licence":"CC0","name":"PoC-in-GitHub"}],"ssvc":{"automatable":"no","exploitation":"none","technical_impact":"total"},"state":"PUBLISHED","updated":"2026-10-08","vendors":["Cisco"]},"summary":"A local attacker can elevate privileges to SYSTEM by exploiting improper permissions in the client update process of Cisco Secure Client.","url":"https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-20178/"}