CVE-2023-20198
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.
- CVSS
- 10.0Criticalscored by the publisher (CNA)
- Exploited in the wild
- Yes, in CISA KEV since 16 Oct 2023CISA deadline for US federal agencies: 20 Oct 2023public exploit code
- EPSS
- 99.8%chance of exploitation in the next 30 daystop 0.1% of scored CVEsFIRST score of 11 Nov 2026
- Fix
- Patch availablesee the advisories in the references
- Published
- 16 Oct 2023analysed here 12 Nov 2026
Do first. 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 required action for this KEV entry)
Summary
Triage
The summary, impact and action text on this page are written by our AI analysis pipeline, or taken from the NVD description when a CVE was imported from NVD. They are not the vendor's wording: check them against the sources. A longer AI executive summary and technical analysis are generated for signed-in accounts on the Max plan.
Affected products
| Product | Affected versions | Vendor says fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| Cisco Cisco IOS XE Software | 16.1.116.1.216.1.316.2.116.2.216.3.116.3.216.3.316.3.1a16.3.416.3.516.3.5b16.3.616.3.716.3.816.3.916.3.1016.3.1116.4.116.4.216.4.316.5.116.5.1a16.5.1b16.5.216.5.316.6.116.6.216.6.316.6.416.6.516.6.4a16.6.5a16.6.616.6.716.6.816.6.916.6.1016.7.116.7.1a16.7.1b16.7.216.7.316.7.416.8.116.8.1a16.8.1b16.8.1s16.8.1c16.8.1d16.8.216.8.1e16.8.316.9.116.9.216.9.1a16.9.1b16.9.1s16.9.316.9.416.9.3a16.9.516.9.5f16.9.616.9.716.9.816.10.116.10.1a16.10.1b16.10.1s16.10.1c16.10.1e16.10.1d16.10.216.10.1f16.10.1g16.10.316.11.116.11.1a16.11.1b16.11.216.11.1s16.12.116.12.1s16.12.1a16.12.1c16.12.1w16.12.216.12.1y16.12.2a16.12.316.12.816.12.2s16.12.1x16.12.1t16.12.416.12.3s16.12.3a16.12.4a16.12.516.12.616.12.1z116.12.5a16.12.5b16.12.1z216.12.6a16.12.716.12.916.12.1017.1.117.1.1a17.1.1s17.1.1t17.1.317.2.117.2.1r17.2.1a17.2.1v17.2.217.2.317.3.117.3.217.3.317.3.1a17.3.1w17.3.2a17.3.1x17.3.1z17.3.417.3.517.3.4a17.3.617.3.4b17.3.4c17.3.5a17.3.5b17.3.717.3.817.4.117.4.217.4.1a17.4.1b17.4.2a17.5.117.5.1a17.5.1b17.5.1c17.6.117.6.217.6.1w17.6.1a17.6.1x17.6.317.6.1y17.6.1z17.6.3a17.6.417.6.1z117.6.517.6.617.7.117.7.1a17.7.1b17.7.217.10.117.10.1a17.10.1b17.8.117.8.1a17.9.117.9.1w17.9.217.9.1a17.9.1x17.9.1y17.9.317.9.2a17.9.1x117.9.3a17.9.417.9.1y117.11.117.11.1a17.12.117.12.1a17.11.99SWVendor says fixed in: not stated |
As published in the CVE Program record. A version outside these ranges is not a statement that it is unaffected — vendors sometimes understate a range, and distribution-backported builds carry upstream numbers that do not reflect what was patched into them.
Products named in our analysis
- rockwellautomation:allen-bradley_stratix_5200_firmware
- rockwellautomation:allen-bradley_stratix_5800_firmware
- cisco:ios_xe
Fix and mitigation
WAF and other mitigations
Can a WAF block it? Partly. Cloudflare publishes WAF rules written for this CVE. Such rules block the known exploit requests and buy time, but attackers can change the request to get past them, so they do not replace the patch.
Cloudflare · 2 rules (Block, Disabled) · since 10 Mar 2025
- Cisco IOS XE - Information Disclosure - CVE:CVE-2023-20198 · Cloudflare Managed Ruleset
- Cisco IOS XE - Remote Code Execution - CVE:CVE-2023-20198 · Cloudflare Managed Ruleset
Also consider: patch · enable the vendor rule in block mode
Based on WAF vendor rules published for this CVE. We check Cloudflare, AWS, Google Cloud Armor and Azure; for Akamai, Imperva, Fastly, F5, ask your vendor.
Remediation steps (AI-written)
Step-by-step remediation is generated for accounts on the Max plan, for CVEs that match a technology in their stack. Add this technology to your stack to see the fix checklist.
Exploitation evidence
- CISA KEV catalog
- Listed since 16 Oct 2023.
- CISA due date
- 20 Oct 2023, the remediation deadline for US federal agencies
- CISA 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.
- Public exploit code
- Yes: 3 Metasploit modules · 36 GitHub proofs of concept · 1 Nuclei template
- CISA SSVC
- exploitation active, automatable yes, technical impact totalAssessed by CISA 23 Oct 2024 (SSVC 2.0.3). Exploitation is none, poc (public proof of concept) or active.
Metasploit
- exploit/linux/misc/cisco_ios_xe_rceexploit, rank excellent
- auxiliary/admin/http/cisco_ios_xe_cli_exec_cve_2023_20198auxiliary, rank normal
- auxiliary/admin/http/cisco_ios_xe_os_exec_cve_2023_20273auxiliary, rank normal
Nuclei
- Cisco IOS XE Web UI - Command Injectiondetection template, critical
GitHub proofs of concept
- smokeintheshell/CVE-2023-2019867 stars
- W01fh4cker/CVE-2023-20198-RCE44 stars
- fox-it/cisco-ios-xe-implant-detection41 stars
- Shadow0ps/CVE-2023-20198-Scanner33 stars
and 32 more repositories
Listed so you can judge urgency, not as a recommendation to run anything. GitHub “proofs of concept” are unvetted: some are fake or carry malware. Exploit-DB marks the entries its staff verified.
Timeline
- 16 Oct 2023Added to CISA KEV (exploited in the wild)
- 16 Oct 2023Published1 day later
- 17 Oct 2023First public exploit or proof of conceptsame day later
- 20 Oct 2023CISA remediation due date (US federal agencies)3 days later
- 23 Oct 2024CISA SSVC assessment: exploitation active370 days (about 1 year) later
- 21 Oct 2025CVE record last updated363 days (about 12 months) later
- 12 Nov 2026Analysed by vulneraibility.com387 days (about 1 year) later
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
| Metric | Value | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Attack vector | NetworkReachable over the internet or any routable network. | Reachable over the internet or any routable network. |
| Attack complexity | LowRepeatable attack, no special conditions. | Repeatable attack, no special conditions. |
| Privileges required | NoneThe attacker needs no prior access. | The attacker needs no prior access. |
| User interaction | NoneNo victim action needed. | No victim action needed. |
| Scope | ChangedImpact crosses a security boundary into other components. | Impact crosses a security boundary into other components. |
| Confidentiality | HighTotal data disclosure possible. | Total data disclosure possible. |
| Integrity | HighComplete modification possible. | Complete modification possible. |
| Availability | HighFull outage possible. | Full outage possible. |
Common questions
Is CVE-2023-20198 being exploited?
Yes. CVE-2023-20198 appears in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, which means exploitation in the wild has been confirmed and reported. Treat it as active rather than theoretical, and patch it ahead of higher-scoring vulnerabilities that carry no exploitation evidence.
How severe is CVE-2023-20198?
CVE-2023-20198 is rated Critical with a CVSS score of 10.0. Severity describes how bad exploitation would be, not how likely it is: pair it with exploitation evidence before deciding what to patch first.
Is there a patch for CVE-2023-20198?
Yes. A fix has been recorded for CVE-2023-20198. The vendor advisory is the authority on the exact fixed version — apply it from there rather than from a summary.
What does CVE-2023-20198 affect?
CVE-2023-20198 affects rockwellautomation:allen-bradley_stratix_5200_firmware, rockwellautomation:allen-bradley_stratix_5800_firmware, cisco:ios_xe. Confirm the exact affected versions against the vendor advisory before deciding you are exposed.
Exploitation status reflects CISA's KEV catalog as we last synced it. Check the catalog directly.
References
2 references in the CVE record, grouped by the tags the record gives them.
Other links (2)
- sec.cloudapps.cisco.com /security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-iosxe-webui-privesc-j22S
- cisa.gov /known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2023-20198
Where the data on this page comes from
- CVE List (CVE.org): description, affected versions, references; CVE Terms of Use
- NVD: CVSS and CPE data
- CISA KEV catalog: exploitation, date added, due date
- CISA Vulnrichment (ADP): SSVC decision points
- FIRST EPSS: exploit probability and percentile
- Metasploit Framework: exploit and scanner modules
- Nuclei templates: detection templates
- PoC-in-GitHub: GitHub repositories that claim a proof of concept
Summary, impact and triage tags: written by our AI analysis pipeline from the sources above. Check them against the sources.
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