Security Resilience

CVE-2023-20202

Cisco Ios Xe 17.10.1 … 17.9.2b

Published
27 September 2023
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 6.1
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0027 17th percentile
Risk Priority 44 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-2023-20202 is a medium-severity Memory Allocation with Excessive Size Value (CWE-789) vulnerability in Cisco Ios Xe. Its CVSS base score is 6.1 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique LSASS Memory (T1003.001); ranked at the 17th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A vulnerability in the Wireless Network Control daemon (wncd) of Cisco IOS XE Software for Wireless LAN Controllers could allow an unauthenticated, adjacent attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition. This vulnerability is due to improper memory management.…

more

An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a series of network requests to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the wncd process to consume available memory and eventually cause the device to reload, resulting in a DoS condition.

CWE(s)
CWE-789NVD-CWE-noinfo

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1003.001 LSASS Memory Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access credential material stored in the process memory of the Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS).
attack.mitre.org →
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 →
T1003.008 /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to dump the contents of <code>/etc/passwd</code> and <code>/etc/shadow</code> to enable offline password cracking.
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 →
T1011 Exfiltration Over Other Network Medium Exfiltration
Adversaries may attempt to exfiltrate data over a different network medium than the command and control channel.
attack.mitre.org →
T1014 Rootkit Stealth
Adversaries may use rootkits to hide the presence of programs, files, network connections, services, drivers, and other system components.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-20140Same product: Cisco Catalyst 9800-40
CVE-2025-20165Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2023-20089Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2026-20012Same product: Cisco Ios Xe
CVE-2026-20106Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2026-20013Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2024-20304Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2026-20105Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2026-20021Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2026-20014Same vendor: Cisco

Affected Assets

cisco
ios xe
17.10.1, 17.10.1a, 17.10.1b, 17.9.1, 17.9.1a

Mitigating Controls

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.PS-06 partial match
blocks

Secure SDLC practices directly prevent coding flaws that trust unvalidated size values for allocations.

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.7.11 Supporting utilities partial match
removes

References