CVE-2023-20161
Published: 18 May 2023
Summary
CVE-2023-20161 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, ranked in the top 15.4% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
Deeper analysis
CVE-2023-20161 affects the web-based user interface of certain Cisco Small Business Series Switches. The vulnerabilities stem from improper validation of requests sent to the web interface and are tracked under CWE-120. An unauthenticated remote attacker can trigger a denial-of-service condition or execute arbitrary code with root privileges on an affected device, reflected in the CVSS 3.1 score of 8.6.
An unauthenticated remote attacker can send specially crafted requests over the network to the switch web interface. Successful exploitation allows the attacker to crash the device or obtain root-level code execution without any prior authentication or user interaction.
The Cisco Security Advisory at the referenced URL addresses these issues and is the authoritative source for mitigation steps and patch availability. The EPSS score reached a peak of 0.0531 but has since receded to 0.0213 with no indication of sustained exploitation interest.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2023-24340
Vulnerability details
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
No named actor attribution yet. ATT&CK technique mapping in progress for this CVE.
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
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.