CVE-2023-20251

mediumpriority · track · 21EPSS 0.003 · 18 %ileDEEURUUS
grimoire priorityP3 · Track
Exploitable?
—
no known exploitation
Likely / severe?
0.26% (18th) EPSS
CVSS 5.3 · medium
Is it mine?
27 products
Check your exposure
Who says so?
5 sources
cnnvd · enisa_euvd · fstec_bdu · cert_bund

EPSS · scored 2026-10-27

A vulnerability in the memory buffer of Cisco Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) AireOS Software could allow an unauthenticated, adjacent attacker to cause memory leaks that could eventually lead to a device reboot. This vulnerability is due to memory leaks caused by multiple clients connecting under specific conditions. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by causing multiple wireless clients to attempt to connect to an access point (AP) on an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the affected device to reboot after a significant amount of time, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition.

01

remediations

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

A vendor fix is available.

  • FixedCisco Mobility Expresscisco_csaf

    Cisco has released software updates that address this vulnerability.

    https://software.cisco.com
  • FixedCisco Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) 8.10.151.0 when installed on Cisco Virtual Wireless Controllercisco_csaf

    Cisco has released software updates that address this vulnerability.

    https://software.cisco.com
  • FixedCisco Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) 8.10.162.0 when installed on Cisco Virtual Wireless Controllercisco_csaf

    Cisco has released software updates that address this vulnerability.

    https://software.cisco.com
  • FixedCisco Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) 8.10.170.0 when installed on Cisco Virtual Wireless Controllercisco_csaf

    Cisco has released software updates that address this vulnerability.

    https://software.cisco.com
  • FixedCisco Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) 8.10.171.0 when installed on Cisco Virtual Wireless Controllercisco_csaf

    Cisco has released software updates that address this vulnerability.

    https://software.cisco.com
  • FixedCisco Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) 8.10.181.0 when installed on Cisco Virtual Wireless Controllercisco_csaf

    Cisco has released software updates that address this vulnerability.

    https://software.cisco.com
  • FixedCisco Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) 8.10.182.0 when installed on Cisco Virtual Wireless Controllercisco_csaf

    Cisco has released software updates that address this vulnerability.

    https://software.cisco.com
  • FixedCisco Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) 8.10.183.0 when installed on Cisco Virtual Wireless Controllercisco_csaf

    Cisco has released software updates that address this vulnerability.

    https://software.cisco.com
  • FixedCisco Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) 8.10.185.0 when installed on Cisco Virtual Wireless Controllercisco_csaf

    Cisco has released software updates that address this vulnerability.

    https://software.cisco.com
  • WorkaroundCisco Mobility Expresscisco_csaf

    There is a workaround that addresses this vulnerability. Administrators can disable the Random Mac Filtering feature on the affected device using the following CLI command: 3500-3-AX (config-wlan)# no local-admin-mac deny While this workaround has been deployed and was proven successful in a test environment, customers should determine the applicability and effectiveness in their own environment and under their own use conditions. Customers should be aware that any workaround or mitigation that is implemented may negatively impact the functionality or performance of their network based on intrinsic customer deployment scenarios and limitations. Customers should not deploy any workarounds or mitigations before first evaluating the applicability to their own environment and any impact to such environment.

  • WorkaroundCisco Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) 8.10.151.0 when installed on Cisco Virtual Wireless Controllercisco_csaf

    There is a workaround that addresses this vulnerability. Administrators can disable the Random Mac Filtering feature on the affected device using the following CLI command: 3500-3-AX (config-wlan)# no local-admin-mac deny While this workaround has been deployed and was proven successful in a test environment, customers should determine the applicability and effectiveness in their own environment and under their own use conditions. Customers should be aware that any workaround or mitigation that is implemented may negatively impact the functionality or performance of their network based on intrinsic customer deployment scenarios and limitations. Customers should not deploy any workarounds or mitigations before first evaluating the applicability to their own environment and any impact to such environment.

  • WorkaroundCisco Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) 8.10.162.0 when installed on Cisco Virtual Wireless Controllercisco_csaf

    There is a workaround that addresses this vulnerability. Administrators can disable the Random Mac Filtering feature on the affected device using the following CLI command: 3500-3-AX (config-wlan)# no local-admin-mac deny While this workaround has been deployed and was proven successful in a test environment, customers should determine the applicability and effectiveness in their own environment and under their own use conditions. Customers should be aware that any workaround or mitigation that is implemented may negatively impact the functionality or performance of their network based on intrinsic customer deployment scenarios and limitations. Customers should not deploy any workarounds or mitigations before first evaluating the applicability to their own environment and any impact to such environment.

  • WorkaroundCisco Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) 8.10.170.0 when installed on Cisco Virtual Wireless Controllercisco_csaf

    There is a workaround that addresses this vulnerability. Administrators can disable the Random Mac Filtering feature on the affected device using the following CLI command: 3500-3-AX (config-wlan)# no local-admin-mac deny While this workaround has been deployed and was proven successful in a test environment, customers should determine the applicability and effectiveness in their own environment and under their own use conditions. Customers should be aware that any workaround or mitigation that is implemented may negatively impact the functionality or performance of their network based on intrinsic customer deployment scenarios and limitations. Customers should not deploy any workarounds or mitigations before first evaluating the applicability to their own environment and any impact to such environment.

  • WorkaroundCisco Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) 8.10.171.0 when installed on Cisco Virtual Wireless Controllercisco_csaf

    There is a workaround that addresses this vulnerability. Administrators can disable the Random Mac Filtering feature on the affected device using the following CLI command: 3500-3-AX (config-wlan)# no local-admin-mac deny While this workaround has been deployed and was proven successful in a test environment, customers should determine the applicability and effectiveness in their own environment and under their own use conditions. Customers should be aware that any workaround or mitigation that is implemented may negatively impact the functionality or performance of their network based on intrinsic customer deployment scenarios and limitations. Customers should not deploy any workarounds or mitigations before first evaluating the applicability to their own environment and any impact to such environment.

  • WorkaroundCisco Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) 8.10.181.0 when installed on Cisco Virtual Wireless Controllercisco_csaf

    There is a workaround that addresses this vulnerability. Administrators can disable the Random Mac Filtering feature on the affected device using the following CLI command: 3500-3-AX (config-wlan)# no local-admin-mac deny While this workaround has been deployed and was proven successful in a test environment, customers should determine the applicability and effectiveness in their own environment and under their own use conditions. Customers should be aware that any workaround or mitigation that is implemented may negatively impact the functionality or performance of their network based on intrinsic customer deployment scenarios and limitations. Customers should not deploy any workarounds or mitigations before first evaluating the applicability to their own environment and any impact to such environment.

  • WorkaroundCisco Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) 8.10.182.0 when installed on Cisco Virtual Wireless Controllercisco_csaf

    There is a workaround that addresses this vulnerability. Administrators can disable the Random Mac Filtering feature on the affected device using the following CLI command: 3500-3-AX (config-wlan)# no local-admin-mac deny While this workaround has been deployed and was proven successful in a test environment, customers should determine the applicability and effectiveness in their own environment and under their own use conditions. Customers should be aware that any workaround or mitigation that is implemented may negatively impact the functionality or performance of their network based on intrinsic customer deployment scenarios and limitations. Customers should not deploy any workarounds or mitigations before first evaluating the applicability to their own environment and any impact to such environment.

  • WorkaroundCisco Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) 8.10.183.0 when installed on Cisco Virtual Wireless Controllercisco_csaf

    There is a workaround that addresses this vulnerability. Administrators can disable the Random Mac Filtering feature on the affected device using the following CLI command: 3500-3-AX (config-wlan)# no local-admin-mac deny While this workaround has been deployed and was proven successful in a test environment, customers should determine the applicability and effectiveness in their own environment and under their own use conditions. Customers should be aware that any workaround or mitigation that is implemented may negatively impact the functionality or performance of their network based on intrinsic customer deployment scenarios and limitations. Customers should not deploy any workarounds or mitigations before first evaluating the applicability to their own environment and any impact to such environment.

  • WorkaroundCisco Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) 8.10.185.0 when installed on Cisco Virtual Wireless Controllercisco_csaf

    There is a workaround that addresses this vulnerability. Administrators can disable the Random Mac Filtering feature on the affected device using the following CLI command: 3500-3-AX (config-wlan)# no local-admin-mac deny While this workaround has been deployed and was proven successful in a test environment, customers should determine the applicability and effectiveness in their own environment and under their own use conditions. Customers should be aware that any workaround or mitigation that is implemented may negatively impact the functionality or performance of their network based on intrinsic customer deployment scenarios and limitations. Customers should not deploy any workarounds or mitigations before first evaluating the applicability to their own environment and any impact to such environment.

02

cvss

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

6.1
010

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

v3.15.3mediumCVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:Hprimary · NVD / NIST USexploitability 1.6 · impact 3.6
v3.16.1mediumAV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:Hsecondary · FSTEC (BDU) RU
v3.16.1mediumCVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:Hsecondary · ENISA EU
v3.16.1mediumCVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:Hsecondary · psirt@cisco.com USexploitability 1.6 · impact 4
v3.14.9mediumCVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H/E:Usecondary · CVSS-BT (t0sche)
v3.16.1mediumCVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:Hsecondary · Cisco PSIRT US
03

weaknesses

The CWE weakness classes this flaw belongs to.

CWE-119USprimaryCWE-401USCWE-404US
04

affected products (27)

Products and version ranges known to be affected.

showing 20 of 27
05

advisories (2)

Vendor and ecosystem advisories describing this.

  • WID-SEC-W-2023-2492Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers: Schwachstelle ermöglicht Denial of ServiceDeutsch2023-09-27csaf · cert_bundDE

    Ein anonymer Angreifer im angrenzenden Netzbereich kann eine Schwachstelle in Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers ausnutzen, um einen Denial of Service Angriff durchzuführen.

  • cisco-sa-cbw-dos-YSmbUqX3Cisco Wireless LAN Controller AireOS Software Denial of Service Vulnerability2023-09-27csaf · cisco_csafUS

    A vulnerability in the memory buffer of Cisco Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) AireOS Software could allow an unauthenticated, adjacent attacker to cause memory leaks that could eventually lead to a device reboot. This vulnerability is due to memory leaks caused by multiple clients connecting under specific conditions. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by causing multiple wireless clients to attempt to connect to an access point (AP) on an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the affected device to reboot after a significant amount of time, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition. Cisco has released software updates that address this vulnerability. There is a workaround that addresses this vulnerability.

06

also known as (4)

Other names and identifiers for this entity.

07

sources

Which sources assert this record, and when.

cnnvdenisa_euvdfstec_bducert_bundcisco_csafNVDCVE.orgMITRE
published 2023-09-27modified 2026-06-17
09

references (4)

External citations — patches, advisories, analysis.

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