KEV Intelligence

Vulnerability report

Exploited in the wild Confirmed confidence In CISA KEV

CVE-2024-20439

Cisco Smart License Utility

Cisco / Cisco Smart License Utility · 2.1.0

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Severity
CVSS 9.8 · Critical
Confidence
Confirmed
Exploit status
Exploited in the wild
EPSS
92.1%
First observed
—
Last observed
—

Decision summary

What security teams need to know first

Direct answers before the deeper technical record.

What it is

CVE-2024-20439 is an unauthenticated vulnerability affecting Cisco Cisco Smart License Utility. A vulnerability in Cisco Smart Licensing Utility (CSLU) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to log into an...

Is it exploited?

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

Who is affected?

Cisco / Cisco Smart License Utility 2.1.0.

What should we do?

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

Overview

Cisco Smart License Utility

A vulnerability in Cisco Smart Licensing Utility (CSLU) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to log into an affected system by using a static administrative credential.

This vulnerability is due to an undocumented static user credential for an administrative account. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by using the static credentials to login to the affected system. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to login to the affected system with administrative rights over the CSLU application API.

Vendor Product Affected Status
cisco cisco_smart_license_utility 2.1.0 Affected
cisco cisco_smart_license_utility 2.0.0 Affected
cisco cisco_smart_license_utility 2.2.0 Affected
cisco cisco_smart_license_utility 2.1.0 Affected
cisco cisco_smart_license_utility 2.0.0 Affected
cisco cisco_smart_license_utility 2.2.0 Affected
cisco cisco_smart_license_utility 2.1.0 Affected
cisco cisco_smart_license_utility 2.0.0 Affected
cisco cisco_smart_license_utility 2.2.0 Affected
Cisco Cisco Smart License Utility 2.1.0 Affected
Cisco Cisco Smart License Utility 2.0.0 Affected
Cisco Cisco Smart License Utility 2.2.0 Affected
Published
04 Sep 2024
Exploitation Reported
31 Mar 2025
Attack vector
Remote
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None

Tags

edge nuclei_scanner cisa nessus_scanner

CVE References

  • CVE Record CVE.org · CVE Record https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-20439
  • cisco-sa-cslu-7gHMzWmw sec.cloudapps.cisco.com · CVE Record https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurity...

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 31 Mar 2025

Independent exploitation attestation added to the KEV Intelligence record.

Proof of concept available

Nuclei Templates

Recorded 12 Jun 2026

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 2025-03-31 00:00 UTC
The Shadowserver 2026-06-09 00:00 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
Nessus https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/206672 02 Jun 2025
Nuclei https://github.com/projectdiscovery/nuclei-templates/blob/main/http/cves/2024/CVE-2024-20439.yaml 25 Apr 2025

Risk and context

Severity, weaknesses, and research context

CVSS v3.1

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

EPSS

92.1%

Weaknesses

Use of Hard-coded Credentials CWE-798 Hidden Functionality CWE-912

Potential Proof of Concepts

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

Hardcoded Admin Credentials For Cisco Smart Licensing Utility API

nuclei · Created Unknown

Timeline

From disclosure to observed exploitation

  1. Public PoC available

    Public proof-of-concept code published

  2. KEV confirmed by The Shadowserver

    Exploitation attested by an external source

  3. Nessus plugin available

    Scanner coverage available

  4. Nuclei template available

    Scanner coverage available

  5. Added to CISA KEV

    Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

  6. CVE published

    Vulnerability disclosed publicly

  7. 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-2024-20439

Free JSON includes basic KEV fields 
{
  "cve_id": "CVE-2024-20439",
  "confidence": "Confirmed",
  "cvss_score": 9.8,
  "cvss_estimated": false,
  "epss_score": 0.92062,
  "exploit_status": {
    "exploited_in_the_wild": true,
    "active_exploitation_observed": false
  },
  "sensor_telemetry": { "attempts": 0, "sensors": 0 }
}

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