Cyber Resilience

CVE-2024-20483

RCE in Cisco Ios Xr 24.1.1 … 24.3.1

Published
11 September 2024
Modified
03 October 2024
Patch / 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 63th percentile
Risk Priority 55 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2024-20483 is a high-severity OS Command Injection (CWE-78) vulnerability in Cisco Ios Xr. 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 37% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Multiple vulnerabilities in Cisco Routed PON Controller Software, which runs as a docker container on hardware that is supported by Cisco IOS XR Software, could allow an authenticated, remote attacker with Administrator-level privileges on the PON Manager or direct access…

more

to the PON Manager MongoDB instance to perform command injection attacks on the PON Controller container and execute arbitrary commands as root. These vulnerabilities are due to insufficient validation of arguments that are passed to specific configuration commands. An attacker could exploit these vulnerabilities by including crafted input as the argument of an affected configuration command. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands as root on the PON controller.

CWE(s)

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.
T1059.003 Windows Command Shell Execution
Adversaries may abuse the Windows command shell for execution.
T1059.004 Unix Shell Execution
Adversaries may abuse Unix shell commands and scripts for execution.
T1059.001 PowerShell Execution
Adversaries may abuse PowerShell commands and scripts for execution.
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.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2024-20398Same product: Cisco Ios Xr
CVE-2025-20138Same product: Cisco Ios Xr
CVE-2009-2055Same product: Cisco Ios Xr
CVE-2023-20190Same product: Cisco Ios Xr
CVE-2024-20319Same product: Cisco Ios Xr
CVE-2023-20191Same product: Cisco Ios Xr
CVE-2023-20050Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2024-20458Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2024-20277Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2023-20233Same product: Cisco Ios Xr

Affected Assets

cisco
ios xr
24.1.1, 24.1.2, 24.2.1, 24.2.11, 24.3.1

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)
  • V1.2.5
  • V1.2.8
  • V15.2.5

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and evaluation can discover missing or incorrect command sanitization during development.

Input validation directly neutralizes or rejects special characters that would otherwise alter OS command structure.

Least privilege reduces the permissions available to any process that could be subverted by injected commands.

Least functionality restricts available OS commands and interpreters, limiting the blast radius of injection.

Secure engineering principles require proper neutralization of untrusted input before command construction.

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

PR.PS-06's SDLC practices directly require secure coding and input handling that blocks command-injection defects, yet the single broad outcome leaves many specific neutralization vectors and verification gaps unaddressed.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Routine patching/maintenance can remediate known command-injection CVEs in dependencies (partial forward) but does nothing to stop developers from introducing improper neutralization in custom code (none reverse).

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.

finds

Security testing and code review target insecure use of operating-system command interfaces, catching command-injection flaws introduced during development.

References