# CVE-2023-20217: Privilege escalation in Cisco ThousandEyes Recorder Application

> Authenticated local attackers can elevate privileges to root and view arbitrary files via insufficient CLI input validation in Cisco ThousandEyes Enterprise Agent.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 16 Aug 2023
- **Updated:** 3 Jul 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-xqw8-9f8f-59wq

## What is CVE-2023-20217?

CVE-2023-20217 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Cisco ThousandEyes Recorder Application, published on 16 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 CLI of Cisco ThousandEyes Enterprise Agent, Virtual Appliance installation type, could allow an authenticated, local attacker to elevate privileges on an affected device.

 This vulnerability is due to insufficient input validation by the operating system CLI. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by issuing certain commands using sudo. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to view arbitrary files as root on the underlying operating system. The attacker must have valid credentials on the affected device.

Weakness: CWE-250 (Execution with Unnecessary Privileges)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-20217?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Cisco Thousandeyes Enterprise Agent, Cisco Thousandeyes Recorder.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-20217?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-20217 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-20217 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-20217 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Cisco ThousandEyes Recorder Application

- [CVE-2023-20224](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-20224/): Privilege escalation in Cisco ThousandEyes Recorder Application (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2024-20277](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-20277/): Command injection in Cisco ThousandEyes Recorder Application (medium 6.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-20217 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-20217 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Cisco ThousandEyes Recorder Application, published on 16 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-2023-20217 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Cisco ThousandEyes Recorder Application. 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-2023-20217/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-20217/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-20217
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-20217
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-20217

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-20217/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.