Root code execution via sourced CRL configuration
Published Aug 16, 2023 · Updated Dec 16, 2025
Command injection in Cisco TelePresence VCS Expressway before 14.3.1 allows remote authenticated users to execute commands as root. The CRL updater accepts a crafted distribution-point URL from the web interface, writes it to crl-update.conf, and sources that file as a shell script. Read-write application privileges are required; although automatic CRL updates are disabled by default, such users can enable them and obtain a root shell.
Summary
What happened
Command injection in Cisco TelePresence VCS Expressway before 14.3.1 allows remote authenticated users to execute commands as root. The CRL updater accepts a crafted distribution-point URL from the web interface, writes it to crl-update.conf, and sources that file as a shell script. Read-write application privileges are required; although automatic CRL updates are disabled by default, such users can enable them and obtain a root shell.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2023-20209
- Published
- Aug 16, 2023
- Updated
- Dec 16, 2025
- Vendor
- ClamAV
- Product
- Cisco TelePresence Video Communication Server (VCS) Expressway
- Classifications
- CWE-94, T1059.004
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Aug 16, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Dec 16, 2025Record 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.
- Affected versionversion=X12.5.0
- Affected versionversion=X12.5.1
- Affected versionversion=X12.5.2
- Affected versionversion=X12.5.3
- Affected versionversion=X12.5.4
- Affected versionversion=X12.5.5
- Affected versionversion=X12.5.6
- Affected versionversion=X12.5.7
- Affected versionversion=X12.5.8
- Affected versionversion=X12.5.9
- Affected versionversion=X12.6.0
- Affected versionversion=X12.6.1
- Affected versionversion=X12.6.2
- Affected versionversion=X12.6.3
- Affected versionversion=X12.6.4
- Affected versionversion=X12.7.0
- Affected versionversion=X12.7.1
- Affected versionversion=X14.0.1
- Affected versionversion=X14.0.10
- Affected versionversion=X14.0.11
- Affected versionversion=X14.0.2
- Affected versionversion=X14.0.3
- Affected versionversion=X14.0.4
- Affected versionversion=X14.0.5
- Affected versionversion=X14.0.6
- Affected versionversion=X14.0.7
- Affected versionversion=X14.0.8
- Affected versionversion=X14.0.9
- Affected versionversion=X14.2.0
- Affected versionversion=X14.2.1
- Affected versionversion=X14.2.2
- Affected versionversion=X14.2.5
- Affected versionversion=X14.2.6
- Affected versionversion=X14.2.7
- Affected versionversion=X14.3.0
- Affected versionversion=X8.1
- Affected versionversion=X8.10.0
- Affected versionversion=X8.10.1
- Affected versionversion=X8.10.2
- Affected versionversion=X8.10.3
- Affected versionversion=X8.10.4
- Affected versionversion=X8.1.1
- Affected versionversion=X8.11.0
- Affected versionversion=X8.11.1
- Affected versionversion=X8.11.2
- Affected versionversion=X8.11.3
- Affected versionversion=X8.11.4
- Affected versionversion=X8.1.2
- Affected versionversion=X8.2
- Affected versionversion=X8.2.1
- Affected versionversion=X8.2.2
- Affected versionversion=X8.5
- Affected versionversion=X8.5.1
- Affected versionversion=X8.5.3
- Affected versionversion=X8.6
- Affected versionversion=X8.6.1
- Affected versionversion=X8.7
- Affected versionversion=X8.7.1
- Affected versionversion=X8.7.2
- Affected versionversion=X8.7.3
- Affected versionversion=X8.8
- Affected versionversion=X8.8.1
- Affected versionversion=X8.8.2
- Affected versionversion=X8.8.3
- Affected versionversion=X8.9
- Affected versionversion=X8.9.1
- Affected versionversion=X8.9.2
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
- peter5he1by CVE-2023-20209 proof of conceptfunctional · demonstrated
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
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