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CVE-2023-20198

CWE-420

Critical

105.0

RPS

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

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  https://api.intelligence.devsecure.io/api/v1/rps/CVE-2023-20198

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Data as of 7 Oct 2026, 05:16 UK time

CVE-2023-20198 · RPS 105.0 · DevSecure Intelligence