# CVE-2023-20216: Privilege escalation in Cisco BroadWorks

> Authenticated local attackers with specific roles can elevate privileges to root and execute arbitrary commands on Cisco BroadWorks servers.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.4 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 3 Aug 2023
- **Updated:** 2 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-cqj5-c26p-jcv4

## What is CVE-2023-20216?

CVE-2023-20216 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Cisco BroadWorks, published on 3 Aug 2023. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability in the privilege management functionality of all Cisco BroadWorks server types could allow an authenticated, local attacker to elevate privileges to root on an affected system. 

 This vulnerability is due to incorrect implementation of user role permissions. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by authenticating to the application as a user with the BWORKS or BWSUPERADMIN role and issuing crafted commands on an affected system. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute commands beyond the sphere of their intended access level, including initiating installs or running operating system commands with elevated permissions.

   There are workarounds that address this vulnerability.

Weakness: CWE-732 (Incorrect Permission Assignment for Critical Resource), CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-20216?

It affects 12 products.


Products: Cisco Broadworks Application Delivery Platform, Cisco Broadworks Application Server, Cisco Broadworks Database Server, Cisco Broadworks Execution Server, Cisco Broadworks Media Server, Cisco Broadworks Network Database Server, Cisco Broadworks Network Function Manager, Cisco Broadworks Network Server, Cisco Broadworks Profile Server, Cisco Broadworks Service Control Function Server, Cisco Broadworks Troubleshooting Server, Cisco Broadworks Xtended Services Platform.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-20216?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-20216 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-20216 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-20216 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Cisco BroadWorks

- [CVE-2023-20238](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-20238/): Auth bypass in Cisco BroadWorks (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2023-20019](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-20019/): Cross-site scripting in Cisco BroadWorks (medium 6.1)
- [CVE-2023-20204](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-20204/): Cross-site scripting in Cisco BroadWorks (medium 5.4)
- [CVE-2025-20307](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-20307/): Cisco BroadWorks Application Delivery Platform Cross-Site Scripting Vulnerability (medium 4.8)
- [CVE-2024-20270](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-20270/): Cross-site scripting in Cisco BroadWorks (medium 4.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-20216 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-20216 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Cisco BroadWorks, published on 3 Aug 2023. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-20216 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-2023-20216/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-20216/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-20216
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-20216
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-20216

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-20216/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.