Vulnerability Monitor

The vendors, products, and vulnerabilities you care about

CVE-2022-20855


A vulnerability in the self-healing functionality of Cisco IOS XE Software for Embedded Wireless Controllers on Catalyst Access Points could allow an authenticated, local attacker to escape the restricted controller shell and execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system of the access point. This vulnerability is due to improper checks throughout the restart of certain system processes. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by logging on to an affected device and executing certain CLI commands. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying OS as root. To successfully exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would need valid credentials for a privilege level 15 user of the wireless controller.


Security Impact Summary

This vulnerability carries a HIGH severity rating with a CVSS v3.1 score of 7.9, requiring local system access to exploit with relatively low complexity without requiring user interaction . The vulnerability impacts confidentiality (data exposure), integrity (unauthorized modifications), for affected systems. Impacting 30 products from cisco, from cisco, from cisco and 27 others, organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.

Historical Context

Reported in 2022, this vulnerability emerged during an era marked by increased sophistication in supply chain attacks, cloud infrastructure vulnerabilities, and software-as-a-service (SaaS) security challenges. Security practices during this period emphasized zero-trust architectures, container security, and API protection.


Published

2022-09-30T19:15:12.963

Last Modified

2024-11-21T06:43:41.627

Status

Modified

Source

[email protected]

Severity

CVSSv3.1: 7.9 (HIGH)

Weaknesses
  • Type: Secondary
    CWE-266
  • Type: Primary
    CWE-78

Affected Vendors & Products
Type Vendor Product Version/Range Vulnerable?
Operating System cisco ios_xe 17.6.1 Yes
Hardware cisco catalyst_9105 - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_9105axi - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_9105axw - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_9115 - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_9115_ap - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_9115axe - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_9115axi - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_9117 - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_9117_ap - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_9117axi - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_9120 - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_9120_ap - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_9120axe - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_9120axi - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_9120axp - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_9124 - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_9124axd - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_9124axi - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_9130 - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_9130_ap - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_9130axe - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_9130axi - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_9800 - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_9800-40 - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_9800-80 - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_9800-cl - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_9800-l - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_9800-l-c - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_9800-l-f - No

References

How SecUtils Interprets This CVE

SecUtils normalizes and enriches National Vulnerability Database (NVD) records by standardizing vendor and product identifiers, aggregating vulnerability metadata from both NVD and MITRE sources, and providing structured context for security teams. For cisco's affected products, we extract Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) data, Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) classifications, CVSS severity metrics, and reference data to enable rapid vulnerability prioritization and asset correlation. This record contains no exploit code, proof-of-concept instructions, or attack methodologies—only defensive intelligence necessary for patch management, risk assessment, and security operations.