# CVE-2024-20483: Cisco IOS XR PON Controller Command Injection Vulnerabilities

> Authenticated administrators can execute arbitrary root commands on Cisco IOS XR PON Controller containers via insufficient input validation.

- **Severity:** High 7.2 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 11 Sep 2024
- **Updated:** 20 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-w2jq-6q47-2f9r

## What is CVE-2024-20483?

CVE-2024-20483 is a high-severity command injection vulnerability in Cisco Ios Xr, published on 11 Sep 2024. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Multiple vulnerabilities in Cisco Routed PON Controller Software, which runs as a docker container on hardware that is supported by Cisco IOS XR Software, could allow an authenticated, remote attacker with Administrator-level privileges on the PON Manager or direct access to the PON Manager MongoDB instance to perform command injection attacks on the PON Controller container and execute arbitrary commands as root.

These vulnerabilities are due to insufficient validation of arguments that are passed to specific configuration commands. An attacker could exploit these vulnerabilities by including crafted input as the argument of an affected configuration command. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands as root on the PON controller.

Weakness: CWE-78 (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-20483?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Cisco Ios Xr.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-20483?

No fix has been published for CVE-2024-20483 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2024-20483 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-20483 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Cisco Ios Xr

- [CVE-2020-3118](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-3118/): Cisco IOS XR Software Discovery Protocol Format String (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2020-3569](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-3569/): Cisco IOS XR Software DVMRP Memory Exhaustion (high 8.6, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2020-3566](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-3566/): Cisco IOS XR Software DVMRP Memory Exhaustion (high 8.6, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2010-3035](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2010-3035/): Cisco IOS XR Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) Denial-of-Service (high 7.5, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-20821](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-20821/): Cisco IOS XR Open Port (medium 6.5, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2024-20483 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-20483 is a high-severity command injection vulnerability in Cisco Ios Xr, published on 11 Sep 2024. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-20483 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Cisco Ios Xr. 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-2024-20483/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-20483/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-20483
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-20483
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-20483

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-20483/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.