Security Resilience

CVE-2023-20080

Cisco Ios 12.2\(6\)i1 … 15.9\(3\)m5

Published
23 March 2023
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 8.6
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0095 60th percentile
Risk Priority 63 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-2023-20080 is a high-severity Improper Validation of Array Index (CWE-129) vulnerability in Cisco Ios. Its CVSS base score is 8.6 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Steganography (T1001.002); ranked in the top 40% 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

A vulnerability in the IPv6 DHCP version 6 (DHCPv6) relay and server features of Cisco IOS and IOS XE Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to trigger a denial of service (DoS) condition. This vulnerability is due to insufficient…

more

validation of data boundaries. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending crafted DHCPv6 messages to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the device to reload unexpectedly.

CWE(s)
CWE-129

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1001.002 Steganography Command And Control
Adversaries may use steganographic techniques to hide command and control traffic to make detection efforts more difficult.
attack.mitre.org →
T1001.003 Protocol or Service Impersonation Command And Control
Adversaries may impersonate legitimate protocols or web service traffic to disguise command and control activity and thwart analysis efforts.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.002 Security Account Manager Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to extract credential material from the Security Account Manager (SAM) database either through in-memory techniques or through the Windows Registry where the SAM database is stored.
attack.mitre.org →
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 →
T1003.008 /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to dump the contents of <code>/etc/passwd</code> and <code>/etc/shadow</code> to enable offline password cracking.
attack.mitre.org →
T1008 Fallback Channels Command And Control
Adversaries may use fallback or alternate communication channels if the primary channel is compromised or inaccessible in order to maintain reliable command and control and to avoid data transfer thresholds.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-20109Same product: Cisco Ios
CVE-2024-20433Same product: Cisco Ios
CVE-2024-20308Same product: Cisco Ios
CVE-2025-20169Same product: Cisco Ios
CVE-2025-20170Same product: Cisco Ios
CVE-2025-20175Same product: Cisco Ios
CVE-2025-20174Same product: Cisco Ios
CVE-2025-20149Same product: Cisco Ios
CVE-2024-20307Same product: Cisco Ios
CVE-2024-20311Same product: Cisco Ios

Affected Assets

cisco
ios
12.2\(6\)i1, 15.1\(2\)sg, 15.1\(2\)sg1, 15.1\(2\)sg2, 15.1\(2\)sg3
cisco
ios xe
16.1.1, 16.1.2, 16.1.3, 16.10.1, 16.10.1a

Mitigating Controls

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 partial match
blocks

Secure SDLC practices directly require input validation and bounds checking that prevent improper array indexing.

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

References