Security Resilience

CVE-2023-20013

RCE in Cisco Intersight Private Virtual Appliance 1.0.9

RCECommand Injection
Published
16 August 2023
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 6.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0095 61th percentile
Risk Priority 50 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2023-20013 is a medium-severity OS Command Injection (CWE-78) vulnerability in Cisco Intersight Private Virtual Appliance. Its CVSS base score is 6.5 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique NTDS (T1003.003); ranked in the top 39% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A05:2025 Injection

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Multiple vulnerabilities in Cisco Intersight Private Virtual Appliance could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to execute arbitrary commands using root-level privileges. The attacker would need to have Administrator privileges on the affected device to exploit these vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities are…

more

due to insufficient input validation when extracting uploaded software packages. An attacker could exploit these vulnerabilities by authenticating to an affected device and uploading a crafted software package. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute commands on the underlying operating system with root-level privileges.

CWE(s)
CWE-78CWE-77

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1003.003 NTDS Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access or create a copy of the Active Directory domain database in order to steal credential information, as well as obtain other information about domain members such as devices, users, and access rights.
attack.mitre.org →
T1007 System Service Discovery Discovery
Adversaries may try to gather information about registered local system services.
attack.mitre.org →
T1010 Application Window Discovery Discovery
Adversaries may attempt to get a listing of open application windows.
attack.mitre.org →
T1021.004 SSH Lateral Movement
Adversaries may use [Valid Accounts](https://attack.
attack.mitre.org →
T1021.008 Direct Cloud VM Connections Lateral Movement
Adversaries may leverage [Valid Accounts](https://attack.
attack.mitre.org →
T1027.001 Binary Padding Stealth
Adversaries may use binary padding to add junk data and change the on-disk representation of malware.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-20017Same product: Cisco Intersight Private Virtual Appliance
CVE-2023-20170Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2023-20121Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2023-20219Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2023-20152Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2023-20153Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2023-20122Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2023-20075Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2024-20326Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2021-1498Same vendor: Cisco

Affected Assets

cisco
intersight private virtual appliance
1.0.9

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

—

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V1.2.5
  • V1.2.8

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.

SC-27 Platform-independent Applications
addresses: CWE-78

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.

SI-10 Information Input Validation
addresses: CWE-78

Validates inputs to block special elements that would alter OS command execution.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
blocks

PR.PS-06's SDLC practices directly require secure coding and input handling that blocks command-injection defects, yet the single broad outcome leaves many specific neutralization vectors and verification gaps unaddressed.

PR.PS-02 partial match
blocks

Routine patching/maintenance can remediate known command-injection CVEs in dependencies (partial forward) but does nothing to stop developers from introducing improper neutralization in custom code (none reverse).

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

A.5.14 Information transfer partial match
removes
A.5.15 Access control partial match
removes
A.5.16 Identity management partial match
removes
A.5.17 Authentication information partial match
removes
A.5.18 Access rights partial match
removes
A.8.10 Information deletion partial match
removes

Hardening callouts derived

DISA STIG baselines are authored against specific weaknesses. Where this CVE cites a broad weakness class, the mapping is not asserted at that abstraction (owner ruling, 2026-09-25: grade only at Base and below), so no rule is shown here rather than a rule shown against the wrong grain.

  • No fine-grained STIG row for CWE-77, a class-level weakness, and none of its children carries one either.

References