CVE-2023-20273
Cisco Cisco IOS XE Web UI
Cisco IOS XE contains a command injection vulnerability in the web user interface. When chained with CVE-2023-20198, the attacker can leverage the new local user to elevate privilege to root and write the implant to the file system. Cisco identified CVE-2023-20273 as the vulnerability exploited to deploy the implant. CVE-2021-1435, previously associated with the exploitation events, is no longer believed to be related to this activity.
Exploitation status
- CISA has confirmed this is being exploited in the wild. That is an observation of real attacks, not a prediction.
- US federal civilian agencies are required to remediate it by 2023-10-27. That deadline does not bind private companies, but it is a reasonable benchmark for how urgently CISA views it.
Required action
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.
CISA’s wording, unedited.
Scoring
- CVSS
- Not yet scored
Dates
- Published
- 2023-10-23
- Added to KEV
- 2023-10-23
- Remediation due
- 2023-10-27
- Sources
- CISA KEV