CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2023-20170 — Cisco Identity Services Engine security vulnerability

Medium CVSS 6.7

A vulnerability in a specific Cisco ISE CLI command could allow an authenticated, local attacker to perform command injection attacks on the underlying operating system and elevate privileges to root. To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker must have valid Administrator-level privileges on the affected device. This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of user-supplied input. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by submitting a crafted CLI command. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to elevate privileges to root.

Severity
Medium
CVSS
6.7 (3.1)
Published
2023-11-01
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
software/application
Weaknesses
CWE-77, CWE-78

Affected products

  • cisco / identity_services_engine / 3.2

Showing 1 representative product identities from 3 source matches. Confirm exact affected versions with the linked vendor and NVD evidence.

Matched remediation archetype

Command, code, expression, and template injection

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Check exposure

  • Trace untrusted values to process execution, interpreters, evaluators, template engines, dynamic imports, and administrative scripting features.
  • Determine whether the affected path is reachable across each trust boundary and which service account or host privilege it inherits.
  • Review configuration for optional execution features, unsafe compatibility modes, and shell invocation.

Remediate safely

  • Replace string-built commands or evaluated code with fixed operations and structured argument APIs that do not invoke a shell.
  • Use strict allowlists for operation identifiers and reject unexpected input before it reaches any interpreter.
  • Update the affected component and add inert regression tests covering metacharacters, encoding variants, and alternate request paths.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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