CVE-2023-20046

highpriority · track · 36EPSS 0.016 · 75 %ileEURUUS

grimoire priorityP2 · Scheduled

Exploitable?

—

no known exploitation

Likely / severe?

1.56% (75th) EPSS

CVSS 8.8 · high

Is it mine?

421 products

Check your exposure

Who says so?

4 sources

cnnvd · enisa_euvd · fstec_bdu · cisco_csaf

EPSS · scored 2026-10-27

A vulnerability in the key-based SSH authentication feature of Cisco StarOS Software could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to elevate privileges on an affected device. This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of user-supplied credentials. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a valid low-privileged SSH key to an affected device from a host that has an IP address that is configured as the source for a high-privileged user account. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to log in to the affected device through SSH as a high-privileged user. There are workarounds that address this vulnerability.

remediations

Vendor fix, mitigation, or workaround guidance, as published by each source.

A vendor fix is available.

FixedCisco ASR 5000 Series Softwarecisco_csaf
Cisco has released software updates that address this vulnerability.
https://software.cisco.com
FixedCisco Ultra Cloud Core - User Plane Functioncisco_csaf
Cisco has released software updates that address this vulnerability.
https://software.cisco.com

cvss

Technical severity, 0–10. One row per scoring source.

8.8

010

base score 0–10 · higher = more severe · hover a vector to decode

v3.18.8highCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:Hprimary · NVD / NIST USexploitability 2.8 · impact 5.9

v3.18.8highAV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:Hsecondary · FSTEC (BDU) RU

v3.18.8highCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:Hsecondary · ENISA EU

v3.18.8highCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:Hsecondary · psirt@cisco.com USexploitability 2.8 · impact 5.9

v3.18.1highCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:Usecondary · CVSS-BT (t0sche)

v3.18.8highCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:Hsecondary · Cisco PSIRT US

weaknesses

The CWE weakness classes this flaw belongs to.

CWE-522USprimaryCWE-255USCWE-289US

affected products (421)

Products and version ranges known to be affected.

Cisco Cisco ASR 5000 Series Softwareall versionscisco_csafUS
Cisco Cisco Ultra Cloud Core - User Plane Functionall versionscisco_csafUS
Cisco Cisco ASR 5000 Series Software≤ 21.23.27enisa_euvdEU
Cisco Cisco ASR 5000 Series Software≤ 21.13.0enisa_euvdEU
Cisco Cisco ASR 5000 Series Software≤ 21.22.n8enisa_euvdEU
Cisco Cisco ASR 5000 Series Software≤ 21.20.3enisa_euvdEU
Cisco Cisco ASR 5000 Series Software≤ 21.22.4enisa_euvdEU
Cisco Cisco ASR 5000 Series Software≤ 21.25.12enisa_euvdEU
Cisco Cisco ASR 5000 Series Software≤ 21.15.10enisa_euvdEU
Cisco Cisco ASR 5000 Series Software≤ 21.23.21enisa_euvdEU
Cisco Cisco ASR 5000 Series Software≤ 21.13.12enisa_euvdEU
Cisco Cisco ASR 5000 Series Software≤ 21.11.4enisa_euvdEU
Cisco Cisco ASR 5000 Series Software≤ 21.13.2enisa_euvdEU
Cisco Cisco ASR 5000 Series Software≤ 21.16.c16enisa_euvdEU
Cisco Cisco ASR 5000 Series Software≤ 21.23.8enisa_euvdEU
Cisco Cisco ASR 5000 Series Software≤ 21.15.36enisa_euvdEU
Cisco Cisco ASR 5000 Series Software≤ 21.12.18enisa_euvdEU
Cisco Cisco ASR 5000 Series Software≤ 21.19.n9enisa_euvdEU
Cisco Cisco ASR 5000 Series Software≤ 21.18.0enisa_euvdEU
Cisco Cisco ASR 5000 Series Software≤ 21.23.b3enisa_euvdEU

showing 20 of 421

advisories (1)

Vendor and ecosystem advisories describing this.

cisco-sa-staros-ssh-privesc-BmWeJC3hCisco StarOS Software Key-Based SSH Authentication Privilege Escalation Vulnerability2023-04-19csaf · cisco_csafUS
A vulnerability in the key-based SSH authentication feature of Cisco StarOS Software could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to elevate privileges on an affected device. This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of user-supplied credentials. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a valid low-privileged SSH key to an affected device from a host that has an IP address that is configured as the source for a high-privileged user account. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to log in to the affected device through SSH as a high-privileged user. Cisco has released software updates that address this vulnerability. There are workarounds that address this vulnerability.

also known as (3)

Other names and identifiers for this entity.

sources

Which sources assert this record, and when.

cnnvd enisa_euvd fstec_bdu cisco_csaf NVD CVE.org MITRE

published 2023-05-09modified 2026-06-17

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references (6)

External citations — patches, advisories, analysis.

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