A vulnerability in the web UI feature of Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to inject commands with the privileges of root. This vulnerability is due to insufficient input validation. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending crafted input to the web UI. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to inject commands to the underlying operating system with root privileges.

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 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.

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 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 IPv6 DHCP version 6 (DHCPv6) relay and server features of Cisco IOS and IOS XE Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to trigger a denial of service (DoS) condition. This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of data boundaries. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending crafted DHCPv6 messages to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the device to reload unexpectedly.

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 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 web UI feature of Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to perform an injection attack against an affected device. This vulnerability is due to insufficient input validation. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending crafted input to the web UI API. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to inject commands to the underlying operating system with root privileges.

A vulnerability in the NETCONF over SSH feature of Cisco IOS XE Software could allow a low-privileged, authenticated, remote attacker to cause a denial of service condition (DoS) on an affected device. This vulnerability is due to insufficient resource management. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by initiating a large number of NETCONF over SSH connections. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to exhaust resources, causing the device to reload and resulting in a DoS condition on an affected device.

A vulnerability in Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) trap generation for wireless clients of Cisco IOS XE Wireless Controller Software for the Catalyst 9000 Family could allow an unauthenticated, adjacent attacker to cause an affected device to unexpectedly reload, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition on the device. This vulnerability is due to a lack of input validation of the information used to generate an SNMP trap related to a wireless client connection event. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending an 802.1x packet with crafted parameters during the wireless authentication setup phase of a connection. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the device to reload, resulting in a DoS condition.

A vulnerability in the Application Visibility and Control (AVC-FNF) feature of Cisco IOS XE Software for Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected device. This vulnerability is due to insufficient packet verification for traffic inspected by the AVC feature. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending crafted packets from the wired network to a wireless client, resulting in the crafted packets being processed by the wireless controller. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause a crash and reload of the affected device, resulting in a DoS condition.

A vulnerability in the Control and Provisioning of Wireless Access Points (CAPWAP) protocol processing of Cisco IOS XE Wireless Controller Software for the Catalyst 9000 Family could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected device. This vulnerability is due to inadequate input validation of incoming CAPWAP packets encapsulating multicast DNS (mDNS) queries. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by connecting to a wireless network and sending a crafted mDNS query, which would flow through and be processed by the wireless controller. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the affected device to crash and reload, resulting in a DoS condition.

A vulnerability in the CLI of Cisco IOS XE Software for Cisco Catalyst 9000 Family Switches and Cisco Catalyst 9000 Family Wireless Controllers could allow an authenticated, local attacker to elevate privileges to level 15 on an affected device. This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of user privileges after the user executes certain CLI commands. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by logging in to an affected device as a low-privileged user and then executing certain CLI commands. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands with level 15 privileges on the affected device.

A vulnerability in the IPSec decryption routine of Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause an affected device to reload, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition. This vulnerability is due to buffer exhaustion that occurs while traffic on a configured IPsec tunnel is being processed. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending traffic to an affected device that has a maximum transmission unit (MTU) of 1800 bytes or greater. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the device to reload. To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker may need access to the trusted network where the affected device is in order to send specific packets to be processed by the device. All network devices between the attacker and the affected device must support an MTU of 1800 bytes or greater. This access requirement could limit the possibility of a successful exploit.

A vulnerability in the CLI of Cisco IOS XE SD-WAN Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to execute arbitrary commands with root privileges. The vulnerability is due to insufficient input validation by the system CLI. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by authenticating to an affected device and submitting crafted input to the system CLI. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute commands on the underlying operating system with root privileges.

A vulnerability in the Control and Provisioning of Wireless Access Points (CAPWAP) protocol processing of Cisco IOS XE Software for Cisco Catalyst 9000 Family Wireless Controllers could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to execute arbitrary code with administrative privileges or cause a denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected device. The vulnerability is due to a logic error that occurs during the validation of CAPWAP packets. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted CAPWAP packet to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary code with administrative privileges or cause the affected device to crash and reload, resulting in a DoS condition.

A vulnerability in IPv6 traffic processing of Cisco IOS XE Wireless Controller Software for Cisco Catalyst 9000 Family Wireless Controllers could allow an unauthenticated, adjacent attacker to cause a Layer 2 (L2) loop in a configured VLAN, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition for that VLAN. The vulnerability is due to a logic error when processing specific link-local IPv6 traffic. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted IPv6 packet that would flow inbound through the wired interface of an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause traffic drops in the affected VLAN, thus triggering the DoS condition.

A vulnerability in the CLI of Cisco IOS XE SD-WAN Software and Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to execute arbitrary commands with elevated privileges on an affected device. This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of arguments passed to certain CLI commands. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by including malicious input in the argument of an affected command. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands with elevated privileges on the underlying operating system. An attacker would need valid user credentials to exploit this vulnerability.