{"answers":{"affected":"It affects 3 products.","exploited":"Yes. Attackers have exploited CVE-2023-20198 in the wild since at least 16 Oct 2023.","fix":"No fix has been published for CVE-2023-20198 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available. US federal agencies must fix it by 20 Oct 2023.","what":"CVE-2023-20198 is a critical authentication bypass vulnerability in Cisco Ios Xe, published on 16 Oct 2023. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim."},"fix_prompt":"Check this codebase for CVE-2023-20198 and fix it if it is affected.\n\nWhat it is: CVE-2023-20198 is a critical authentication bypass vulnerability in Cisco Ios Xe, published on 16 Oct 2023. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.\nExploitation: Yes. Attackers have exploited CVE-2023-20198 in the wild since at least 16 Oct 2023.\n\nAffected product: Cisco Ios Xe. 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-2023-20198/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-20198/index.md)","id":"CVE-2023-20198","markdown":"https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-20198/index.md","name":"CVE-2023-20198","record":{"aliases":["GHSA-4xrf-pcxr-rf3c"],"analysis":{"component_type":"operating_system","fix_type":"patch","impacts":["privilege_escalation","code_execution"],"network_reachable":"yes","non_default_config":false,"product_category":"Cisco IOS XE","requires_auth":"none","summary":"Attackers exploit a web UI flaw to create local users and gain initial access, facilitating privilege escalation and implant installation on Cisco IOS XE devices.","user_interaction":"not_required","vuln_class":"auth_bypass"},"analysis_generated_by":"qwen3.8-flash-next","assigner":"cisco","cpe":[{"product":"ios_xe","vendor":"cisco"},{"product":"allen-bradley_stratix_5200_firmware","vendor":"rockwellautomation"},{"product":"allen-bradley_stratix_5800_firmware","vendor":"rockwellautomation"}],"cvss":{"score":10,"severity":"critical","source":"cna","vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H","version":"3.1"},"cwes":[{"id":"CWE-420","name":"Unprotected Alternate Channel"}],"description":"Cisco is providing an update for the ongoing investigation into observed exploitation of the web UI feature in Cisco IOS XE Software. We are updating the list of fixed releases and adding the Software Checker. Our investigation has determined that the actors exploited two previously unknown issues. The attacker first exploited CVE-2023-20198 to gain initial access and issued a privilege 15 command to create a local user and password combination. This allowed the user to log in with normal user access. The attacker then exploited another component of the web UI feature, leveraging the new local user to elevate privilege to root and write the implant to the file system. Cisco has assigned CVE-2023-20273 to this issue. CVE-2023-20198 has been assigned a CVSS Score of 10.0. CVE-2023-20273 has been assigned a CVSS Score of 7.2. Both of these CVEs are being tracked by CSCwh87343.","ecosystems":[],"exploits":{"exploitdb":0,"first_seen":"2023-10-16","github_poc":36,"max_poc_stars":67,"metasploit":3,"nuclei":1,"refs":[{"date":"2023-11-16T16:39:38Z","kind":"github_poc","ref":"https://github.com/smokeintheshell/CVE-2023-20198","stars":67,"title":"CVE-2023-20198 Exploit PoC"},{"date":"2024-04-25T06:59:53Z","kind":"github_poc","ref":"https://github.com/W01fh4cker/CVE-2023-20198-RCE","stars":44,"title":"CVE-2023-20198-RCE, support adding/deleting users and executing cli commands/system commands."},{"date":"2023-10-23T14:52:18Z","kind":"github_poc","ref":"https://github.com/fox-it/cisco-ios-xe-implant-detection","stars":41,"title":"Cisco IOS XE implant scanning \u0026 detection (CVE-2023-20198, CVE-2023-20273)"},{"date":"2023-10-23T19:25:29Z","kind":"github_poc","ref":"https://github.com/Shadow0ps/CVE-2023-20198-Scanner","stars":33,"title":"This is a webshell fingerprinting scanner designed to identify implants on Cisco IOS XE WebUI's affected by CVE-2023-20198 and CVE-2023-20273"},{"date":"2023-10-17T22:41:14Z","kind":"github_poc","ref":"https://github.com/ZephrFish/CVE-2023-20198-Checker","stars":32,"title":"CVE-2023-20198 \u0026 0Day Implant Scanner"},{"date":"2023-10-17T08:00:18Z","kind":"github_poc","ref":"https://github.com/Atea-Redteam/CVE-2023-20198","stars":19,"title":"CVE-2023-20198 Checkscript"},{"date":"2023-10-18T08:50:49Z","kind":"github_poc","ref":"https://github.com/Tounsi007/CVE-2023-20198","stars":11,"title":"CVE-2023-20198 PoC (!)"},{"date":"2023-10-23T16:04:23Z","kind":"github_poc","ref":"https://github.com/Pushkarup/CVE-2023-20198","stars":8,"title":"A PoC for CVE 2023-20198"}],"tier":"exploited"},"has_fix":null,"headline":"Cisco IOS XE Web UI Privilege Escalation","id":"CVE-2023-20198","indexable":true,"kev":{"dateAdded":"2023-10-16","dueDate":"2023-10-20","knownRansomwareCampaignUse":"Unknown","product":"IOS XE Web UI","requiredAction":"Verify that instances of Cisco IOS XE Web UI are in compliance with BOD 23-02 and apply mitigations per vendor instructions. For affected products (Cisco IOS XE Web UI exposed to the internet or to untrusted networks), follow vendor instructions to determine if a system may have been compromised and immediately report positive findings to CISA.","vendorProject":"Cisco","vulnerabilityName":"Cisco IOS XE Web UI Privilege Escalation Vulnerability"},"kind":"cve","links":{"ecosystem":null,"product":"cisco:ios_xe","products":["cisco:ios_xe"],"type":"auth_bypass","year":"2023"},"n_packages":0,"n_references":1,"next":{"headline":"Cisco Duo Two-Factor Authentication for macOS Authentication Bypass Vulnerability","id":"CVE-2023-20199"},"packages":[],"prev":{"headline":"Denial of service in Cisco Secure Endpoint","id":"CVE-2023-20197"},"products":["Cisco IOS XE Software"],"published":"2023-10-16","related":[{"cvss_score":9.8,"headline":"Cisco IOS Software and Cisco IOS XE Software Quality of Service Remote Code Execution","id":"CVE-2018-0151","kev_date_added":"2022-03-03","published":"2018-03-28"},{"cvss_score":7.2,"headline":"Cisco IOS XE Web UI Command Injection","id":"CVE-2023-20273","kev_date_added":"2023-10-23","published":"2023-10-24"},{"cvss_score":10,"headline":"Hardcoded credentials in Cisco IOS XE Software","id":"CVE-2025-20188","kev_date_added":null,"published":"2025-05-07"},{"cvss_score":10,"headline":"Cisco IOS XE Software for Catalyst 9000 Family Wireless Controllers CAPWAP Remote Code Execution Vulnerability","id":"CVE-2021-34770","kev_date_added":null,"published":"2021-09-23"},{"cvss_score":10,"headline":"Cisco REST API Container for IOS XE Software Authentication Bypass Vulnerability","id":"CVE-2019-12643","kev_date_added":null,"published":"2019-08-28"},{"cvss_score":9.8,"headline":"Cisco IOS XE Software Security Hardening Release","id":"CVE-2026-20272","kev_date_added":null,"published":"2026-08-05"}],"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":"open","licence":"CC0 1.0","name":"CISA KEV"},{"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":"yes","exploitation":"active","technical_impact":"total"},"state":"PUBLISHED","updated":"2025-10-21","vendors":["Cisco"]},"summary":"Attackers exploit a web UI flaw to create local users and gain initial access, facilitating privilege escalation and implant installation on Cisco IOS XE devices.","url":"https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-20198/"}