CVE-2023-20198

Cisco is providing an update for the ongoing investigation into observed exploitation of the web UI feature in Cisco IOS XE Software. We are...

Basic Information

CVE State: PUBLISHED
Reserved Date: October 27, 2022
Published Date: October 16, 2023
Last Updated: October 23, 2024
Vendor: Cisco
Product: Cisco IOS XE Software
Description: 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.

CVSS Scores

CVSS v3.1

10.0 - CRITICAL

Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

SSVC Information

Exploitation: active
Automatable: Yes
Technical Impact: total

Exploit Status

Exploited in the Wild: Yes (added 2023-10-16 00:00:00 UTC) Source
Proof of Concept Available: Yes (added 2023-10-25 21:15:58 UTC) Source

References

https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-iosxe-webui-privesc-j22SaA4z

Known Exploited Vulnerability Information

Source	Added Date
CISA	2023-10-16 00:00:00 UTC

Scanner Integrations

Scanner	URL	Date Detected
Metasploit	https://github.com/rapid7/metasploit-framework/blob/master/modules/exploits/linux/misc/cisco_ios_xe_rce.rb	2025-04-29 11:01:18 UTC
Nuclei	https://github.com/projectdiscovery/nuclei-templates/blob/main/http/cves/2023/CVE-2023-20198.yaml	2025-04-26 00:00:00 UTC

Potential Proof of Concepts

Warning: These PoCs have not been tested and could contain malware. Use at your own risk.

W01fh4cker/CVE-2023-20198-RCE

Type: github • Created: 2024-04-25 06:59:53 UTC • Stars: 38

CVE-2023-20198-RCE, support adding/deleting users and executing cli commands/system commands.

Vulnmachines/Cisco_CVE-2023-20198

Type: github • Created: 2023-12-11 10:41:48 UTC • Stars: 2

Cisco CVE-2023-20198

smokeintheshell/CVE-2023-20198

Type: github • Created: 2023-11-16 16:39:38 UTC • Stars: 45

CVE-2023-20198 Exploit PoC

RevoltSecurities/CVE-2023-20198

Type: github • Created: 2023-11-03 13:05:59 UTC • Stars: 7

An Exploitation script developed to exploit the CVE-2023-20198 Cisco zero day vulnerability on their IOS routers

IceBreakerCode/CVE-2023-20198

Type: github • Created: 2023-10-25 21:15:58 UTC • Stars: 1

mr-r3b00t/CVE-2023-20198-IOS-XE-Scanner

Type: github • Created: 2023-10-25 07:13:59 UTC • Stars: 2

Shadow0ps/CVE-2023-20198-Scanner

Type: github • Created: 2023-10-23 19:25:29 UTC • Stars: 30

This is a webshell fingerprinting scanner designed to identify implants on Cisco IOS XE WebUI's affected by CVE-2023-20198 and CVE-2023-20273

Pushkarup/CVE-2023-20198

Type: github • Created: 2023-10-23 16:04:23 UTC • Stars: 8

A PoC for CVE 2023-20198

sohaibeb/CVE-2023-20198

Type: github • Created: 2023-10-20 23:34:12 UTC • Stars: 2

CISCO CVE POC SCRIPT

Tounsi007/CVE-2023-20198

Type: github • Created: 2023-10-18 08:50:49 UTC • Stars: 9

CVE-2023-20198 PoC (!)

ZephrFish/CVE-2023-20198-Checker

Type: github • Created: 2023-10-17 22:41:14 UTC • Stars: 30

CVE-2023-20198 & 0Day Implant Scanner

securityphoenix/cisco-CVE-2023-20198-tester

Type: github • Created: 2023-10-17 15:44:01 UTC • Stars: 1

cisco-CVE-2023-20198-tester

Atea-Redteam/CVE-2023-20198

Type: github • Created: 2023-10-17 08:00:18 UTC • Stars: 18

CVE-2023-20198 Checkscript