CVE-2022-20855
Published: 30 September 2022
Summary
CVE-2022-20855 is a high-severity Incorrect Privilege Assignment (CWE-266) vulnerability in Cisco Ios Xe. Its CVSS base score is 7.9 (High).
Operationally, ranked at the 41.8th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2022-26105
Vulnerability details
A vulnerability in the self-healing functionality of Cisco IOS XE Software for Embedded Wireless Controllers on Catalyst Access Points could allow an authenticated, local attacker to escape the restricted controller shell and execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system…
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of the access point. This vulnerability is due to improper checks throughout the restart of certain system processes. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by logging on to an affected device and executing certain CLI commands. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying OS as root. To successfully exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would need valid credentials for a privilege level 15 user of the wireless controller.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
No named actor attribution yet. ATT&CK technique mapping in progress for this CVE.
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Likely Mitigating Controls AI
Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.
Designation of a manager and policy dissemination ensures privileges are assigned according to defined roles.
Regular reviews catch incorrect privilege assignments to users, roles, or processes.
Explicitly specifying privileges and group/role memberships for accounts reduces the risk of incorrect privilege assignments.
The control requires explicit definition of separated access authorizations, making incorrect privilege assignments that bundle conflicting duties harder to implement.
Ensures privileges are assigned only as necessary rather than incorrectly over-granted.
Platform-independent apps typically execute inside a managed runtime or sandbox that restricts direct OS command execution, reducing the ability to exploit OS command injection.
Validates inputs to block special elements that would alter OS command execution.