CVE-2023-20198Cisco IOS XE Web UI Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

Cisco is providing an update for the ongoing investigation into observed exploitation of the web UI feature in Cisco IOS XE Software. We are updating the list of fixed releases and adding the Software Checker. Our investigation has determined that the actors exploited two previously unknown issues. The attacker first exploited CVE-2023-20198 to gain initial access and issued a privilege 15 command to create a local user and password combination. This allowed the user to log in with normal user access. The attacker then exploited another component of the web UI feature, leveraging the new local user to elevate privilege to root and write the implant to the file system. Cisco has assigned CVE-2023-20273 to this issue. CVE-2023-20198 has been assigned a CVSS Score of 10.0. CVE-2023-20273 has been assigned a CVSS Score of 7.2. Both of these CVEs are being tracked by CSCwh87343.

10.0 CRITICALEPSS 99.61%⚡ Known Exploited (CISA KEV)NVD: Analyzed

Last updated: 2026-06-17 05:29 UTC

Overview Affected Products References

NVD CVE.org

Overview

Severity

Score	Severity	Version	Vector String
10.0	CRITICAL	3.1cisco (CNA)	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

CISA required action

⚡ Known exploited · remediation due Oct 20, 2023

Verify that instances of Cisco IOS XE Web UI are in compliance with BOD 23-02 and apply mitigations per vendor instructions. For affected products (Cisco IOS XE Web UI exposed to the internet or to untrusted networks), follow vendor instructions to determine if a system may have been compromised and immediately report positive findings to CISA.

Details

CVE ID: CVE-2023-20198
Status: Analyzed
Assigner (CNA): cisco
Published: Oct 16, 2023
Last modified: 2026-06-17 05:29 UTC
Weaknesses: CWE-420 · Unprotected Alternate Channel

Sources

Refreshed hourly from the sources above. Last fetched 2026-11-07 14:27 UTC.