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CVE-2023-20198

CRITICAL 10 KNOWN EXPLOITED PoC CATALOGUED DETECTION TEMPLATE ALL-YEARS

Published 2023-10-16 · Last modified 2025-10-21 · cisco · NVD: Analyzed

Cisco is providing an update for the ongoing investigation into observed exploitation of the web UI feature in Cisco IOS XE Software. We are updating the list of fixed releases and adding the Software Checker. Our investigation has determined that the actors exploited two previously unknown issues. The attacker first exploited CVE-2023-20198 to gain initial access and issued a privilege 15 command to create a local user and password combination. This allowed the user to log in with normal user access. The attacker then exploited another component of the web UI feature, leveraging the new local user to elevate privilege to root and write the implant to the file system. Cisco has assigned CVE-2023-20273 to this issue. CVE-2023-20198 has been assigned a CVSS Score of 10.0. CVE-2023-20273 has been assigned a CVSS Score of 7.2. Both of these CVEs are being tracked by CSCwh87343.

ACTIVELY EXPLOITED

Confirmed exploited in the wild — in CISA KEV since 2023-10-16. Patch or mitigate now.

Exploitation likelihood

99.6%chance of exploitation in 30 days · 100th percentile

● In CISA KEV (2023-10-16)● Catalogued PoC◆ SSVC: exploitation active, automatable yes

Impact if exploited

10CVSS 3.1 · CRITICAL · CNA

  • ConfidentialityHigh
  • IntegrityHigh
  • AvailabilityHigh

What an attacker needs

  • ✓Access: Reachable over the network — no local access needed
  • ✓Privileges: No account or privileges required
  • ✓User interaction: No user interaction needed
  • ✓Complexity: No special conditions — reliably repeatable

✓ lowers the bar for an attacker · ⚠ raises it

Proof of concept

Public PoC or exploit resources are catalogued below.

Listed by the named source; Vulnpedia has not tested these resources.

PoC data: JSON

Detection templates

Detection checks are listed separately from PoCs.

Resource commands

nuclei -id CVE-2023-20198 -u https://TARGETDetection template — review its checks and affected versions before use.
curl -s https://vulnpedia.com/cve/CVE-2023-20198/poc.jsonMachine-readable PoC index for this CVE (for automation).

Search for new PoCs

Search GitHub now — results may be empty or unverified.

Tracked sources are checked weekly for the full archive, including PoCs published after the original disclosure. A later release appears after a tracked source lists it and a refresh succeeds.

Data snapshot:

Affected

Vendors Cisco Rockwellautomation

Products Cisco Ios Xe Software Allen Bradley Stratix 5200 Firmware Allen Bradley Stratix 5200 Allen Bradley Stratix 5800 Firmware Allen Bradley Stratix 5800 Ios Xe

Weakness (CWE)

  • CWE-420: Unprotected Alternate Channel

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

References and research data (JSON)

Unverified PoC candidates

Catalogue matches for further research. These repositories have not been validated as working exploits.

36 candidates

Additional exploitation reports

Source-specific reports, separate from CISA KEV. Repeated observations from one source are not independent confirmations.

1084 more source reports

Known Affected Software Configurations

VendorProductVersion range
RockwellautomationAllen Bradley Stratix 5200 Firmware< 17.12.02
RockwellautomationAllen Bradley Stratix 5800 Firmware< 17.12.02
CiscoIos Xe≥ 16.12 and < 16.12.10a
CiscoIos Xe≥ 17.3 and < 17.3.8a
CiscoIos Xe≥ 17.6 and < 17.6.6a
CiscoIos Xe≥ 17.9 and < 17.9.4a

All CVSS metrics

  • CRITICAL 10 v3.1 · CNA Primary
    CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
  • CRITICAL 10 v3.1 · NVD Secondary
    CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

References

Patches & mitigations

Advisories

Technical & other

Sources: NVD · CVE.org · All sources and attribution · EPSS