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.
The HTTP/2 protocol allows a denial of service (server resource consumption) because request cancellation can reset many streams quickly, as exploited in the wild in August through October 2023.
A vulnerability in the Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA) feature of Cisco IOS Software and Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to bypass command authorization and copy files to or from the file system of an affected device using the Secure Copy Protocol (SCP).
This vulnerability is due to incorrect processing of SCP commands in AAA command authorization checks. An attacker with valid credentials and level 15 privileges could exploit this vulnerability by using SCP to connect to an affected device from an external machine. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to obtain or change the configuration of the affected device and put files on or retrieve files from the affected device.
A vulnerability in the Cisco Group Encrypted Transport VPN (GET VPN) feature of Cisco IOS Software and Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an authenticated, remote attacker who has administrative control of either a group member or a key server to execute arbitrary code on an affected device or cause the device to crash.
This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of attributes in the Group Domain of Interpretation (GDOI) and G-IKEv2 protocols of the GET VPN feature. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by either compromising an installed key server or modifying the configuration of a group member to point to a key server that is controlled by the attacker. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary code and gain full control of the affected system or cause the affected system to reload, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition. For more information, see the Details ["#details"] section of this advisory.
A vulnerability in Cisco access points (AP) software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to inject arbitrary commands and execute them with root privileges. This vulnerability is due to improper input validation of commands that are issued from a wireless controller to an AP. An attacker with Administrator access to the CLI of the controller could exploit this vulnerability by issuing a command with crafted arguments. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to gain full root access on the AP.
A vulnerability in the management CLI of Cisco access point (AP) software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected device. This vulnerability is due to insufficient input validation of commands supplied by the user. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by authenticating to a device and submitting crafted input to the affected command. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause an affected device to reload spontaneously, resulting in a DoS condition.
A vulnerability in Cisco IOS XE Software for Cisco Catalyst 9300 Series Switches could allow an authenticated, local attacker with level-15 privileges or an unauthenticated attacker with physical access to the device to execute persistent code at boot time and break the chain of trust. This vulnerability is due to errors that occur when retrieving the public release key that is used for image signature verification. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by modifying specific variables in the Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) flash memory of an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute persistent code on the underlying operating system. Note: In Cisco IOS XE Software releases 16.11.1 and later, the complexity of an attack using this vulnerability is high. However, an attacker with level-15 privileges could easily downgrade the Cisco IOS XE Software on a device to a release that would lower the attack complexity.
A vulnerability in the Cisco IOx application hosting environment could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to execute arbitrary commands as root on the underlying host operating system. This vulnerability is due to incomplete sanitization of parameters that are passed in for activation of an application. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by deploying and activating an application in the Cisco IOx application hosting environment with a crafted activation payload file. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands as root on the underlying host operating system.
A vulnerability in the CLI of Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to write values to the underlying memory of an affected device. The vulnerability is due to improper input validation and authorization of specific commands that a user can execute within the CLI. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by authenticating to an affected device and issuing a specific set of commands. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to modify the configuration of the device to cause it to be non-secure and abnormally functioning.