Security Resilience

CVE-2023-20048

Access Control in Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center 6.2.3 – 6.2.3.18

Published
01 November 2023
Modified
26 November 2024
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 9.9
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:L/A:H
EPSS Score 0.16 97th percentile
Risk Priority 79 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-2023-20048 is a critical-severity Improper Privilege Management (CWE-269) vulnerability in Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center. Its CVSS base score is 9.9 (Critical).

Operationally, ranked in the top 3% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A vulnerability in the web services interface of Cisco Firepower Management Center (FMC) Software could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to execute certain unauthorized configuration commands on a Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) device that is managed by the FMC Software.…

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This vulnerability is due to insufficient authorization of configuration commands that are sent through the web service interface. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by authenticating to the FMC web services interface and sending a crafted HTTP request to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute certain configuration commands on the targeted FTD device. To successfully exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would need valid credentials on the FMC Software.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2024-20374Same product: Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center
CVE-2024-20482Same product: Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center
CVE-2026-20044Same product: Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center
CVE-2025-20257Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2025-20346Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2024-20537Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2023-20274Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2024-20510Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2025-20282Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2023-20194Same vendor: Cisco

Affected Assets

cisco
secure firewall management center
6.2.3 — 6.2.3.18 · 6.4.0 — 6.4.0.16 · 6.6.0 — 6.6.7.1

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.

addresses: CWE-269 CWE-863

Policy addresses roles, responsibilities, and privilege management to prevent improper privilege assignments.

addresses: CWE-269 CWE-863

Access supervision ensures privileges are assigned and managed without improper escalation or retention.

addresses: CWE-269 CWE-863

Assigning group/role memberships and access authorizations (privileges) while reviewing accounts addresses improper privilege management.

addresses: CWE-863 CWE-269

The small, testable reference monitor reduces the likelihood of incorrect authorization implementations.

addresses: CWE-863 CWE-269

Certification evaluates whether authorization decisions are correctly implemented and enforced.

addresses: CWE-863 CWE-269

Periodic review and documentation of connection needs reduces incorrect authorization.

addresses: CWE-269 CWE-863

Restricting who can perform changes helps ensure privileges are managed properly rather than assigned broadly.

addresses: CWE-269 CWE-863

Manages privileges by authorizing only approved personnel and supervising those lacking required authorizations for maintenance.

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.

blocks

A.5.15 directly mandates determining access requirements, defining/enforcing topic-specific access control policy, assigning rights/restrictions by entity/role, consistency with classification, need-to-know, privileged access restrictions, segregation, formal authorization, and dynamic rules — which stops most improper privilege management from being exploitable; bounded remainder is flawed implementation of those rules (e.g. incorrect mapping or enforcement bugs).

blocks

A.5.18 directly governs the provisioning, review, modification and timely revocation of access rights (including for role changes, termination and privilege levels), which stops most improper privilege spheres from being exploitable even if the assignment flaw exists; the bounded remainder is flaws in the underlying enforcement mechanism itself (e.g. AC-3/A.8.3)

blocks

Defining and communicating authorization levels for each role limits the assignment of excessive or unnecessary privileges.

A.8.15 Logging partial match
finds

Logging every use of privileges and protecting those records makes it harder for an attacker who has obtained elevated rights to operate without leaving evidence.

blocks

A.8.2 directly controls the identification, allocation, review, expiry, temporary use, and separation of privileged rights per policy, which prevents most improper privilege management (CWE-269) by design; the bounded remainder is flawed tracking/checking logic inside the product's own enforcement code (the AC-3 slice of 269).

blocks

A.8.27 mandates security-by-design principles including least privilege, default deny, fail securely, defence in depth, security architecture integration, hardening, and zero-trust verification of every request; these directly stop most improper privilege spheres from being exploitable even if the assignment flaw remains, with a bounded remainder (e.g. certain legacy or safety-overridden controls).

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-269, a class-level weakness. Rules are authored against its narrower children: CWE-250, CWE-266, CWE-267, CWE-268, CWE-270, CWE-274.
  • No fine-grained STIG row for CWE-863, a class-level weakness, and none of its children carries one either.

References