Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:NSummary
CVE-2023-20087 is a medium-severity Path Traversal: '/absolute/pathname/here' (CWE-37) vulnerability in Cisco Identity Services Engine. Its CVSS base score is 4.9 (Medium).
Operationally, ranked in the top 46% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2023-24266
Vulnerability Data
Multiple vulnerabilities in the web-based management interface of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to download arbitrary files from the filesystem of an affected device. These vulnerabilities are due to insufficient input validation. An attacker…
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could exploit these vulnerabilities by sending crafted HTTP requests to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to download arbitrary files from the underlying filesystem of the affected device.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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V5.3.2
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.
Validates pathnames and filenames to prevent traversal outside intended directories.
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.
Secure SDLC practices directly require input validation that prevents absolute path traversal.
Patching/maintenance can remediate known path-traversal flaws in deployed software (partial prevention of exploitability) but does nothing to stop the coding defect from being introduced in the first place.
PR.AA-05 defines and reviews access policies but does not address code-level pathname neutralization, so neither direction prevents CWE-22.
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.
Security testing can discover path-traversal flaws but does not prevent them at runtime.
Secure SDLC mandates input validation and path sanitization that directly prevent path traversal.
Application security requirements can mandate input validation to block absolute path traversal.
Secure architecture principles include canonicalization and path-handling controls that prevent traversal.
Secure coding standards directly require validation of file-path inputs to stop absolute-path traversal.
Access-control rules can limit which files an authenticated user may reach, mitigating impact of traversal.