KEV Intelligence

Vulnerability report

Exploited in the wild Confirmed confidence In CISA KEV

CVE-2023-20273

Cisco IOS XE Software

Cisco / Cisco IOS XE Software · 16.1.1

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Severity
CVSS 7.2 · High
Confidence
Confirmed
Exploit status
Exploited in the wild
EPSS
89.6%
First observed
—
Last observed
—

Decision summary

What security teams need to know first

Direct answers before the deeper technical record.

What it is

CVE-2023-20273 is a vulnerability affecting Cisco Cisco IOS XE Software. A vulnerability in the web UI feature of Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to inject commands with the...

Is it exploited?

Yes. KEV Intelligence tracks this CVE as a known exploited vulnerability. Confidence is confirmed.

Who is affected?

Cisco / Cisco IOS XE Software 16.1.1.

What should we do?

Prioritize remediation. Validate affected assets and apply vendor fixes on an accelerated timeline.

Overview

Cisco IOS XE Software

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.

Vendor Product Affected Status
Cisco Cisco IOS XE Software 17.9.3 Affected
Cisco Cisco IOS XE Software 17.9.2a Affected
Cisco Cisco IOS XE Software 17.9.1x1 Affected
Cisco Cisco IOS XE Software 17.9.3a Affected
Cisco Cisco IOS XE Software 17.9.4 Affected
Cisco Cisco IOS XE Software 17.9.1y1 Affected
Cisco Cisco IOS XE Software 17.11.1 Affected
Cisco Cisco IOS XE Software 17.11.1a Affected
Cisco Cisco IOS XE Software 17.12.1 Affected
Cisco Cisco IOS XE Software 17.12.1a Affected
Cisco Cisco IOS XE Software 17.11.99SW Affected
Published
24 Oct 2023
Exploitation Reported
23 Oct 2023
Attack vector
Remote
Complexity
Low
Privileges
High
User interaction
None

Tags

cisa edge ios metasploit

CVE References

Exploitation evidence

Why KEV Intelligence marks this CVE as exploited

Third-party attestation and first-party sensor observation are shown separately so teams can judge the evidence chain.

Exploited in the wild

CISA

Recorded 23 Oct 2023

Independent exploitation attestation added to the KEV Intelligence record.

Proof of concept available

GitHub

Recorded 09 Dec 2023

Public scanner or PoC coverage increases practical exploitability.

Known exploited vulnerability sources

Per-source evidence links for KEV attestations are available through the KEV Intelligence Pro API.

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Source Added
CISA First 2023-10-23 00:00 UTC
Tenable Blog 2026-06-02 14:20 UTC

Detection

Operational artifacts and observed signals

Make the evidence actionable in scanner, SOC, and edge-control workflows.

Observed signals

Request targets
0
User-Agents
0

Raw values available in Pro and Enterprise.

Virtual patch status

No KEV Intelligence virtual patch is currently available. Future rules ship for ModSecurity, Cloudflare, and AWS WAF.

Learn about virtual patches →

Scanner Artifacts

Scanner and exploit-framework references linked to this CVE.

Scanner Reference Detected
Metasploit https://github.com/rapid7/metasploit-framework/blob/master/modules/exploits/linux/misc/cisco_ios_xe_rce.rb 28 Apr 2025

Risk and context

Severity, weaknesses, and research context

CVSS v3.1

7.2 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS

89.6%

Weaknesses

Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command ('OS Command Injection') CWE-78

Recent mention · Tenable Blog

Inside the customer environment: Where threat actors, vulnerabilities, and exposed assets intersect

Tenable Research has developed a graph-based model linking 600+ threat groups to real-world customer exposures. It reveals which vulnerabilities sit at the intersection of severity, active exploitation, and organizational risk.Key takeawaysThe "patch everything" strategy is...

Read full advisory

Potential Proof of Concepts

These PoCs are unverified and could contain malware. Use at your own risk.

cisco_ios_xe_rce

metasploit · Created Unknown

Metasploit module for CVE-2023-20273

Timeline

From disclosure to observed exploitation

  1. KEV confirmed by Tenable Blog

    Exploitation attested by an external source

  2. Metasploit module available

    Exploit module available

  3. Public PoC available

    Public proof-of-concept code published

  4. CVE published

    Vulnerability disclosed publicly

  5. Added to CISA KEV

    Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

  6. CVE ID reserved

    Identifier reserved by the CNA

Pro API

Automate this intelligence

Confidence, exploit status, sensor telemetry, PoCs, scanner integrations, mentions, and tags are available programmatically for VM, SOC, and CTI workflows.

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  • Evidence confidence and provenance
  • First-party sensor telemetry
  • PoC and scanner references
  • Affected versions and enrichment
  • Automation-ready JSON delivery

GET /api/v2/pro/kevs/CVE-2023-20273

Free JSON includes basic KEV fields 
{
  "cve_id": "CVE-2023-20273",
  "confidence": "Confirmed",
  "cvss_score": 7.2,
  "cvss_estimated": false,
  "epss_score": 0.89634,
  "exploit_status": {
    "exploited_in_the_wild": true,
    "active_exploitation_observed": false
  },
  "sensor_telemetry": { "attempts": 0, "sensors": 0 }
}

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