Vulnerability Monitor

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CVE-2023-20235


A vulnerability in the on-device application development workflow feature for the Cisco IOx application hosting infrastructure in Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to access the underlying operating system as the root user. This vulnerability exists because Docker containers with the privileged runtime option are not blocked when they are in application development mode. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by using the Docker CLI to access an affected device. The application development workflow is meant to be used only on development systems and not in production systems.


Security Impact Summary

This vulnerability carries a MEDIUM severity rating with a CVSS v3.1 score of 6.5, indicating it can be exploited remotely over the network with relatively low complexity without requiring user interaction . The vulnerability impacts confidentiality (data exposure), integrity (unauthorized modifications), for affected systems. Impacting 20 products from cisco, from cisco, from cisco and 17 others, organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.

Historical Context

Reported in 2023, 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

2023-10-04T17:15:09.917

Last Modified

2024-11-21T07:40:57.567

Status

Modified

Source

[email protected]

Severity

CVSSv3.1: 6.5 (MEDIUM)

Weaknesses
  • Type: Secondary
    CWE-552
  • Type: Primary
    CWE-269

Affected Vendors & Products
Type Vendor Product Version/Range Vulnerable?
Operating System cisco ios_xe < 17.3.1 Yes
Hardware cisco catalyst_ie3200_rugged_switch - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_ie3300_rugged_switch - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_ie3400_rugged_switch - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_ir1101 - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_ir1821-k9 - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_ir1831-k9 - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_ir1833-k9 - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_ir1835-k9 - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_ir8140h-k9 - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_ir8140h-p-k9 - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_ir8340-k9 - No
Hardware cisco ess-3300-24t-con-a - No
Hardware cisco ess-3300-24t-con-e - No
Hardware cisco ess-3300-24t-ncp-a - No
Hardware cisco ess-3300-24t-ncp-e - No
Hardware cisco ess-3300-con-a - No
Hardware cisco ess-3300-con-e - No
Hardware cisco ess-3300-ncp-a - No
Hardware cisco ess-3300-ncp-e - 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.