Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:NSummary
CVE-2023-20166 is a medium-severity Path Traversal: '../filedir' (CWE-24) vulnerability in Cisco Identity Services Engine. Its CVSS base score is 6.0 (Medium).
Operationally, ranked at the 13th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2023-24345
Vulnerability Data
Multiple vulnerabilities in Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) could allow an authenticated attacker to perform path traversal attacks on the underlying operating system to either elevate privileges to root or read arbitrary files. To exploit these vulnerabilities, an attacker must…
more
have valid Administrator credentials on the affected device. For more information about these vulnerabilities, see the Details section of this advisory.
- 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 and path sanitization that prevent ../ 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.
Secure coding standards require neutralizing ../ sequences and canonicalizing paths before file operations.
Security testing in development catches path-traversal flaws before release.
Secure SDLC mandates input validation and path canonicalization that directly block ../ traversal.
Application security requirements explicitly call for controls against path traversal in file-handling functions.
Secure architecture principles reduce attack surface but do not prescribe the specific coding fix.
Information access restriction limits which files can be reached, mitigating impact of traversal.