CVE-2023-20198
CWE-420
105.0
RPSRPS range: 0–105; KEV-listed vulnerabilities can receive an exploitation amplifier.
Description
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.
Source: NVD
Signals
- CVSS
- 10.0
- Critical · v3.1
- EPSS
- 99.57%
- Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days (FIRST)
- CISA KEV
- In CISA KEV since Oct 2023
- Fix commit
- No known fix commit
- Sources: MoreFixes, FreshFixes
- Weakness
- CWE-420
- Published
- 16 Oct 2023
- Last modified 28 Oct 2025
How to read these signals: RPS · EPSS · CISA KEV · Data sources
Get this score from the API
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer dsec_live_xxxxxxxx" \
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Data as of 7 Oct 2026, 05:16 UK time