CVE-2023-20193

Root escalation via improper ESR privilege management

Published Sep 7, 2023 · Updated Oct 23, 2024

Privilege escalation in Cisco Identity Services Engine 2.6.0 through 3.2.0 p2 allows local users to obtain root access. The ESR console improperly manages privileges when processing a crafted request, enabling arbitrary operating-system file reads, writes, or deletion. Exploitation requires Administrator-level access and a licensed, enabled ESR, which is disabled by default.

CVSS severity6.0
Medium
EPSS probability0.19%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Privilege escalation in Cisco Identity Services Engine 2.6.0 through 3.2.0 p2 allows local users to obtain root access. The ESR console improperly manages privileges when processing a crafted request, enabling arbitrary operating-system file reads, writes, or deletion. Exploitation requires Administrator-level access and a licensed, enabled ESR, which is disabled by default.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-20193
Published
Sep 7, 2023
Updated
Oct 23, 2024
Vendor
ClamAV
Product
Cisco Identity Services Engine
Classifications
CWE-269, CWE-78, T1068
Attack vector
local
Privileges
admin

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Sep 7, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Oct 23, 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=2.6.0
  2. Affected versionversion=2.6.0 p1
  3. Affected versionversion=2.6.0 p10
  4. Affected versionversion=2.6.0 p11
  5. Affected versionversion=2.6.0 p12
  6. Affected versionversion=2.6.0 p2
  7. Affected versionversion=2.6.0 p3
  8. Affected versionversion=2.6.0 p5
  9. Affected versionversion=2.6.0 p6
  10. Affected versionversion=2.6.0 p7
  11. Affected versionversion=2.6.0 p8
  12. Affected versionversion=2.6.0 p9
  13. Affected versionversion=2.7.0
  14. Affected versionversion=2.7.0 p1
  15. Affected versionversion=2.7.0 p2
  16. Affected versionversion=2.7.0 p3
  17. Affected versionversion=2.7.0 p4
  18. Affected versionversion=2.7.0 p5
  19. Affected versionversion=2.7.0 p6
  20. Affected versionversion=2.7.0 p7
  21. Affected versionversion=2.7.0 p9
  22. Affected versionversion=3.0.0
  23. Affected versionversion=3.0.0 p1
  24. Affected versionversion=3.0.0 p2
  25. Affected versionversion=3.0.0 p3
  26. Affected versionversion=3.0.0 p4
  27. Affected versionversion=3.0.0 p5
  28. Affected versionversion=3.0.0 p6
  29. Affected versionversion=3.0.0 p7
  30. Affected versionversion=3.1.0
  31. Affected versionversion=3.1.0 p1
  32. Affected versionversion=3.1.0 p3
  33. Affected versionversion=3.1.0 p4
  34. Affected versionversion=3.1.0 p5
  35. Affected versionversion=3.1.0 p6
  36. Affected versionversion=3.1.0 p7
  37. Affected versionversion=3.2.0
  38. Affected versionversion=3.2.0 p1
  39. Affected versionversion=3.2.0 p2

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesadmin

What is affected?

ClamAV · Cisco Identity Services Engineversion=2.6.0; version=2.6.0 p1; version=2.6.0 p10; version=2.6.0 p11; version=2.6.0 p12; version=2.6.0 p2; version=2.6.0 p3; version=2.6.0 p5; version=2.6.0 p6; version=2.6.0 p7; version=2.6.0 p8; version=2.6.0 p9; version=2.7.0; version=2.7.0 p1; version=2.7.0 p2; version=2.7.0 p3; version=2.7.0 p4; version=2.7.0 p5; version=2.7.0 p6; version=2.7.0 p7; version=2.7.0 p9; version=3.0.0; version=3.0.0 p1; version=3.0.0 p2; version=3.0.0 p3; version=3.0.0 p4; version=3.0.0 p5; version=3.0.0 p6; version=3.0.0 p7; version=3.1.0; version=3.1.0 p1; version=3.1.0 p3; version=3.1.0 p4; version=3.1.0 p5; version=3.1.0 p6; version=3.1.0 p7; version=3.2.0; version=3.2.0 p1; version=3.2.0 p2

Published CVSS scores

6.7NISTCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
6.0Cisco Systems, Inc.CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

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-269Improper Privilege Management
CWE-78Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command ('OS Command Injection')
T1068Exploitation for Privilege Escalation

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

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Your stack

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