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.

Metrics

No CVSS v4.0

Attack Vector Network

Attack Complexity Low

Privileges Required None

Scope Changed

Confidentiality Impact High

Integrity Impact High

Availability Impact High

User Interaction None

No CVSS v3.0

No CVSS v2

This CVE is in the KEV database since Oct. 16, 2023.

The EPSS score is 0.94069.

Exploitation active

Automatable yes

Technical Impact total

Affected Vendors & Products

Vendors Products
Cisco Subscribe
Ios Xe Subscribe
Rockwellautomation Subscribe
Allen-bradley Stratix 5200 Subscribe
Allen-bradley Stratix 5200 Firmware Subscribe
Allen-bradley Stratix 5800 Subscribe
Allen-bradley Stratix 5800 Firmware Subscribe

Configuration 1 [-]

AND
cpe:2.3:o:rockwellautomation:allen-bradley_stratix_5200_firmware:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:h:rockwellautomation:allen-bradley_stratix_5200:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

Configuration 2 [-]

AND
cpe:2.3:o:rockwellautomation:allen-bradley_stratix_5800_firmware:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:h:rockwellautomation:allen-bradley_stratix_5800:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

Configuration 3 [-]

OR cpe:2.3:o:cisco:ios_xe:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:cisco:ios_xe:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:cisco:ios_xe:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:cisco:ios_xe:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

No data.

No data.

Advisories

No advisories yet.

Fixes

Solution

No solution given by the vendor.

Workaround

No workaround given by the vendor.

References
Link Providers
https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-iosxe-webui-privesc-j22SaA4z cve-icon cve-icon
https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2023-20198 cve-icon cve-icon
History

Wed, 22 Oct 2025 08:15:00 +0900

Type Values Removed Values Added
References

Wed, 22 Oct 2025 05:30:00 +0900

Type Values Removed Values Added
References

Wed, 22 Oct 2025 04:30:00 +0900

Type Values Removed Values Added
References

Wed, 16 Jul 2025 22:45:00 +0900

Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics epss

{'score': 0.94134}

 epss

{'score': 0.94226}

Tue, 15 Jul 2025 22:45:00 +0900

Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics epss

{'score': 0.94089}

 epss

{'score': 0.94134}

Fri, 16 May 2025 04:00:00 +0900

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Rockwellautomation
Rockwellautomation allen-bradley Stratix 5200
Rockwellautomation allen-bradley Stratix 5200 Firmware
Rockwellautomation allen-bradley Stratix 5800
Rockwellautomation allen-bradley Stratix 5800 Firmware
CPEs cpe:2.3:h:rockwellautomation:allen-bradley_stratix_5200:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:h:rockwellautomation:allen-bradley_stratix_5800:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:rockwellautomation:allen-bradley_stratix_5200_firmware:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:rockwellautomation:allen-bradley_stratix_5800_firmware:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Vendors & Products Rockwellautomation
Rockwellautomation allen-bradley Stratix 5200
Rockwellautomation allen-bradley Stratix 5200 Firmware
Rockwellautomation allen-bradley Stratix 5800
Rockwellautomation allen-bradley Stratix 5800 Firmware

Thu, 24 Oct 2024 04:15:00 +0900

Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics kev

{'dateAdded': '2023-10-16'}

ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'yes', 'Exploitation': 'active', 'Technical Impact': 'total'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Projects

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cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: cisco

Published:

Updated: 2025-10-21T23:05:34.401Z

Reserved: 2022-10-27T18:47:50.365Z

Link: CVE-2023-20198

cve-icon Vulnrichment

Updated: 2024-08-02T09:05:35.915Z

cve-icon NVD

Status : Analyzed

Published: 2023-10-16T16:15:10.023

Modified: 2025-10-28T13:59:32.787

Link: CVE-2023-20198

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

No data.

Weaknesses