Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:HSummary
CVE-2023-20160 is a high-severity Classic Buffer Overflow (CWE-120) vulnerability in Cisco Business 250-16P-2G Firmware. Its CVSS base score is 8.6 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked in the top 5% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary
Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.
Multiple vulnerabilities affect the web-based user interface of certain Cisco Small Business Series Switches. They stem from improper validation of requests sent to the interface and are tracked under CWE-120. An unauthenticated remote attacker can trigger a denial of service condition or obtain arbitrary code execution with root privileges, reflected in the CVSS 8.6 score emphasizing high availability impact over the network without credentials.
An unauthenticated remote attacker can send crafted requests to the switch web interface to crash the device or execute code at root level, achieving full control or persistent denial of service on affected hardware.
The Cisco Security Advisory cisco-sa-sg-web-multi-S9g4Nkgv details the issues and is the authoritative source for mitigation steps and affected firmware versions. The associated EPSS score reached a peak of 0.0531 but has since receded to 0.0213 with no reported real-world exploitation campaigns noted in the provided data.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2023-24339
Vulnerability Data
Multiple vulnerabilities in the web-based user interface of certain Cisco Small Business Series Switches could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition or execute arbitrary code with root privileges on an affected device. These…
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vulnerabilities are due to improper validation of requests that are sent to the web interface. For more information about these vulnerabilities, see the Details section of this advisory.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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V5.2.1
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.
Platform-independent managed code eliminates the need for unchecked native buffer copies that are the root cause of classic buffer overflows.
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 development practices directly enforce bounds checking and input validation that prevent classic buffer overflows.
Vulnerability identification processes such as code review or scanning detect classic buffer overflows before exploitation.
Routine patching replaces vulnerable code containing unchecked buffer copies with corrected versions.
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.
Secure coding directly requires bounds-checked memory operations, addressing the root cause of CWE-120.
Security testing in development and acceptance can detect buffer overflows through fuzzing and static analysis, though it does not prevent them at the source.
Secure development life cycle mandates processes that can include input validation and bounds checking to prevent buffer overflows.
Application security requirements can specify input-size validation and safe buffer handling to mitigate classic buffer overflows.
Secure system architecture and engineering principles promote defensive coding patterns that reduce the likelihood of unchecked buffer copies.