No. CVE-2023-20273
A Cisco IOS XE Web UI bug is being used in attacks
Yes. Attackers are using this right now.
What to do
Apply the vendor's update. If there is none, stop using it or cut it off from the internet.
- Confirmed in attacks
- Oct 23, 2023
- Product
- Cisco IOS XE Web UI
- Attack likelihood, next 30 days
- 93%
Attack likelihood is EPSS, a daily estimate from FIRST.org of how likely this bug is to be used in attacks in the next 30 days.
The official description
Cisco IOS XE contains a command injection vulnerability in the web user interface. When chained with CVE-2023-20198, the attacker can leverage the new local user to elevate privilege to root and write the implant to the file system. Cisco identified CVE-2023-20273 as the vulnerability exploited to deploy the implant. CVE-2021-1435, previously associated with the exploitation events, is no longer believed to be related to this activity.
For your tech helper
A read-only checklist for whoever helps you with your computer, or an AI assistant. Paste it into Claude, ChatGPT or a coding agent; it only looks and changes nothing.
Read-only check, change nothing, send nothing anywhere.
Is Cisco Cisco IOS XE Web UI (CVE-2023-20273) installed or running on this machine or in this project?
1. Find every copy and its version (apps, packages, containers, lockfiles).
2. Compare each version against the vendor's fixed version for CVE-2023-20273. Quote the vendor page you used.
3. Report a table: where, version, fixed version, status (exposed / fixed / not installed / unsure).
4. List the exact update steps, but do not run them.