Security Resilience

CVE-2023-20114

Path Traversal in Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center 6.2.3 – 6.2.3.18

Path Traversal
Published
01 November 2023
Modified
26 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:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0050 42th 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-2023-20114 is a medium-severity External Control of File Name or Path (CWE-73) vulnerability in Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center. Its CVSS base score is 6.5 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique NTDS (T1003.003); ranked at the 42th 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 InjectionA06:2025 Insecure Design

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A vulnerability in the file download feature of Cisco Firepower Management Center (FMC) Software could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to download arbitrary files from an affected system. This vulnerability is due to a lack of input sanitation. An attacker…

more

could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted HTTPS request. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to download arbitrary files from the affected system.

CWE(s)
CWE-73CWE-20

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 →
T1003.005 Cached Domain Credentials Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access cached domain credentials used to allow authentication to occur in the event a domain controller is unavailable.
attack.mitre.org →
T1005 Data from Local System Collection
Adversaries may search local system sources, such as file systems, configuration files, local databases, virtual machine files, or process memory, to find files of interest and sensitive data prior to Exfiltration.
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 →
T1012 Query Registry Discovery
Adversaries may interact with the Windows Registry to gather information about the system, configuration, and installed software.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-20148Same product: Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center
CVE-2016-6433Same product: Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center
CVE-2024-20274Same product: Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center
CVE-2025-20269Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2023-20063Same product: Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center
CVE-2023-20234Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2024-20366Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2020-3248Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2020-3452Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2020-3239Same 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

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)
  • 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.

SI-10 Information Input Validation
addresses: CWE-20 CWE-73

Directly implements checks on information inputs to reject invalid data before processing.

PM-14 Testing, Training, and Monitoring
addresses: CWE-20

Security testing and developer training directly verify and enforce proper input validation, reducing exploitability of injection and malformed-data weaknesses.

SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation
addresses: CWE-20

Security testing and evaluation at multiple SDLC stages directly detects missing or flawed input validation, with the required remediation process ensuring fixes are applied.

SI-8 Spam Protection
addresses: CWE-20

Spam protection mechanisms perform filtering and detection on inbound/outbound messages, directly compensating for missing or weak input validation of unsolicited content.

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.AA-05 partial match
blocks

Least-privilege file authorization directly limits damage from externally controlled paths.

PR.PS-06 partial match
blocks

Secure SDLC practices include input validation and path sanitization that eliminate this weakness.

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-20, a class-level weakness, and none of its children carries one either.

References