Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-20220

RCE in Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center 6.2.3 – 6.2.3.18

RCECommand InjectionPath Traversal
Published
01 November 2023
Modified
26 November 2024
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.2
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.011 62th percentile
Risk Priority 55 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-20220 is a high-severity Path Traversal (CWE-22) vulnerability in Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center. Its CVSS base score is 7.2 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Command and Scripting Interpreter (T1059); ranked in the top 38% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A01:2025 Broken Access ControlA05:2025 Injection

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Multiple vulnerabilities in the web-based management interface of Cisco Firepower Management Center (FMC) Software could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system. To exploit these vulnerabilities, the attacker must have valid device credentials,…

more

but does not need Administrator privileges. These vulnerabilities are due to insufficient validation of user-supplied input for certain configuration options. An attacker could exploit these vulnerabilities by using crafted input within the device configuration GUI. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the device, including on the underlying operating system, which could also affect the availability of the device.

CWE(s)
CWE-22CWE-77

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter Execution
Adversaries may abuse command and script interpreters to execute commands, scripts, or binaries.
attack.mitre.org →
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1059.001 PowerShell Execution
Adversaries may abuse PowerShell commands and scripts for execution.
attack.mitre.org →
T1059.003 Windows Command Shell Execution
Adversaries may abuse the Windows command shell for execution.
attack.mitre.org →
T1059.004 Unix Shell Execution
Adversaries may abuse Unix shell commands and scripts for execution.
attack.mitre.org →
T1059.008 Network Device CLI Execution
Adversaries may abuse scripting or built-in command line interpreters (CLI) on network devices to execute malicious command and payloads.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-20306Same product: Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center
CVE-2023-20219Same product: Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center
CVE-2026-20169Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2023-20118Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2025-20117Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2023-20097Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2025-20258Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2024-20492Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2026-20186Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2025-20278Same vendor: Cisco

Affected Assets

cisco
secure firewall management center
6.2.3 — 6.2.3.18 · 6.4.0 — 6.4.0.16 · 6.6.0 — 6.6.7.1

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

—

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V5.3.2
  • V1.2.3
  • V1.2.5
  • V1.2.8

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.

SI-10 Information Input Validation
addresses: CWE-22

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.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly require input validation and neutralization that prevent command injection.

DE.CM-09 partial match
prevents

Runtime monitoring of software and data can detect anomalous command execution resulting from injection.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Identifying recorded vulnerabilities enables remediation of command-injection flaws before exploitation.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

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 none match
prevents

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.

A.8.28 Secure coding mostly match
prevents

Secure coding standards require proper escaping and parameterization of commands, directly eliminating CWE-77.

A.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
finds

Security testing in development catches path traversal via static/dynamic analysis.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Secure SDLC mandates input validation and path sanitization that directly prevent path traversal.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
prevents

Application security requirements include rules for safe file handling and canonicalization.

A.8.27 Secure system architecture and engineering principles partial match
prevents

Secure architecture principles require least-privilege file access and directory isolation.

A.8.3 Information access restriction partial match
mitigates

Information access restriction limits which files an application may read or write.

References