Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-20082

Command Injection in Cisco Ios Xe ≤ 17.3.7

Command Injection
Published
23 March 2023
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 6.1
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0037 30th percentile
Risk Priority 46 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-20082 is a medium-severity OS Command Injection (CWE-78) vulnerability in Cisco Ios Xe. Its CVSS base score is 6.1 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Command and Scripting Interpreter (T1059); ranked at the 30th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); 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 Cisco IOS XE Software for Cisco Catalyst 9300 Series Switches could allow an authenticated, local attacker with level-15 privileges or an unauthenticated attacker with physical access to the device to execute persistent code at boot time and…

more

break the chain of trust. This vulnerability is due to errors that occur when retrieving the public release key that is used for image signature verification. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by modifying specific variables in the Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) flash memory of an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute persistent code on the underlying operating system. Note: In Cisco IOS XE Software releases 16.11.1 and later, the complexity of an attack using this vulnerability is high. However, an attacker with level-15 privileges could easily downgrade the Cisco IOS XE Software on a device to a release that would lower the attack complexity.

CWE(s)
CWE-78NVD-CWE-noinfo

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter Execution
Adversaries may abuse command and script interpreters to execute commands, scripts, or binaries.
attack.mitre.org →
T1059.003 Windows Command Shell Execution
Adversaries may abuse the Windows command shell for execution.
attack.mitre.org →
T1059.004 Unix Shell Execution
Adversaries may abuse Unix shell commands and scripts for execution.
attack.mitre.org →
T1059.001 PowerShell Execution
Adversaries may abuse PowerShell commands and scripts for execution.
attack.mitre.org →
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-20231Same product: Cisco Catalyst 9300
CVE-2025-20186Same product: Cisco Ios Xe
CVE-2025-20193Same product: Cisco Ios Xe
CVE-2025-20194Same product: Cisco Ios Xe
CVE-2023-20056Same product: Cisco Ios Xe
CVE-2023-20273Same product: Cisco Ios Xe
CVE-2023-20050Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2024-20458Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2024-20277Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2026-24699Same vendor: Cisco

Affected Assets

cisco
ios xe
17.7 · ≤ 17.3.7 · 17.4 — 17.6.5

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
  • V15.2.5

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
prevents

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
prevents

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.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
finds

Security testing and code review target insecure use of operating-system command interfaces, catching command-injection flaws introduced during development.

References