# CVE-2023-20246: Security feature bypass in Cisco Firepower Threat Defense Software

> Unauthenticated remote attackers can bypass Snort access control policies on Cisco network devices due to a logic error.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 1 Nov 2023
- **Updated:** 6 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-9hv9-j7p5-6w36

## What is CVE-2023-20246?

CVE-2023-20246 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Cisco Ios Xe, published on 1 Nov 2023. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Multiple Cisco products are affected by a vulnerability in Snort access control policies that could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to bypass the configured policies on an affected system. 

 This vulnerability is due to a logic error that occurs when the access control policies are being populated. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by establishing a connection to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to bypass configured access control rules on the affected system.

Weakness: CWE-290 (Authentication Bypass by Spoofing)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-20246?

It affects 3 products.


Products: Cisco Ios Xe, Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense, Snort Snort.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-20246?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-20246 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-20246 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-20246 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Cisco Ios Xe

- [CVE-2023-20198](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-20198/): Cisco IOS XE Web UI Privilege Escalation (critical 10.0, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2018-0151](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-0151/): Cisco IOS Software and Cisco IOS XE Software Quality of Service Remote Code Execution (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2023-20273](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-20273/): Cisco IOS XE Web UI Command Injection (high 7.2, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-20188](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-20188/): Hardcoded credentials in Cisco IOS XE Software (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2021-34770](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-34770/): Cisco IOS XE Software for Catalyst 9000 Family Wireless Controllers CAPWAP Remote Code Execution Vulnerability (critical 10.0)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-20246 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-20246 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Cisco Ios Xe, published on 1 Nov 2023. 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-2023-20246 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Cisco Ios Xe. 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-2023-20246/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-20246/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-20246
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-20246
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-20246

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-20246/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.