CVE-2023-20168
Published: 23 August 2023
Summary
CVE-2023-20168 is a high-severity Classic Buffer Overflow (CWE-120) vulnerability in Cisco Nx-Os. Its CVSS base score is 7.1 (High).
Operationally, ranked at the 30.1th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2023-24347
Vulnerability details
A vulnerability in TACACS+ and RADIUS remote authentication for Cisco NX-OS Software could allow an unauthenticated, local attacker to cause an affected device to unexpectedly reload. This vulnerability is due to incorrect input validation when processing an authentication attempt if…
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the directed request option is enabled for TACACS+ or RADIUS. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by entering a crafted string at the login prompt of an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the affected device to unexpectedly reload, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition.
- 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.
Security testing and developer training directly verify and enforce proper input validation, reducing exploitability of injection and malformed-data weaknesses.
Security testing and evaluation at multiple SDLC stages directly detects missing or flawed input validation, with the required remediation process ensuring fixes are applied.
Platform-independent managed code eliminates the need for unchecked native buffer copies that are the root cause of classic buffer overflows.
Directly implements checks on information inputs to reject invalid data before processing.
Spam protection mechanisms perform filtering and detection on inbound/outbound messages, directly compensating for missing or weak input validation of unsolicited content.