CVE-2023-20023

Administrator-to-root escalation via crafted CLI command

Published Apr 5, 2023 · Updated Oct 28, 2024

OS command injection in Cisco Identity Services Engine 3.2 allows local users with Administrator privileges to elevate to root. Specific ISE CLI commands insufficiently validate user-supplied input before passing it to the underlying operating system, so crafted command arguments execute with elevated privileges. Reachability requires valid Administrator privileges on the appliance; successful exploitation grants root control but does not directly interrupt availability.

CVSS severity6.0
Medium
EPSS probability0.45%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
Coverage for this vulnerability

See if you're affected

Explore vulnerability checks for your environment with Hinoki.

Book a demo

Summary

What happened

OS command injection in Cisco Identity Services Engine 3.2 allows local users with Administrator privileges to elevate to root. Specific ISE CLI commands insufficiently validate user-supplied input before passing it to the underlying operating system, so crafted command arguments execute with elevated privileges. Reachability requires valid Administrator privileges on the appliance; successful exploitation grants root control but does not directly interrupt availability.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-20023
Published
Apr 5, 2023
Updated
Oct 28, 2024
Vendor
ClamAV
Product
Cisco Identity Services Engine
Classifications
CWE-78, T1068, T1059
Attack vector
local
Privileges
admin

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Apr 5, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Oct 28, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.

Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=n/a

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesadmin

What is affected?

ClamAV · Cisco Identity Services Engineversion=n/a

Published CVSS scores

6.0CiscoCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N/E:X/RL:X/RC:X

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesadmin
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-78Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command
T1068Exploitation for Privilege Escalation
T1059Command and Scripting Interpreter

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

See the directory against your own environment.

Your stack

Check the software in your environment

Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.

Book a demo