CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2023-20185 — Cisco Nx-Os security vulnerability

High CVSS 7.4

A vulnerability in the Cisco ACI Multi-Site CloudSec encryption feature of Cisco Nexus 9000 Series Fabric Switches in ACI mode could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to read or modify intersite encrypted traffic. This vulnerability is due to an issue with the implementation of the ciphers that are used by the CloudSec encryption feature on affected switches. An attacker with an on-path position between the ACI sites could exploit this vulnerability by intercepting intersite encrypted traffic and using cryptanalytic techniques to break the encryption. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to read or modify the traffic that is transmitted between the sites. Cisco has not released and will not release software updates that address this vulnerability.

Severity
High
CVSS
7.4 (3.1)
Published
2023-07-12
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
operating-system
Weaknesses
CWE-330, CWE-326

Affected products

  • cisco / nx-os / 14.0(1h)
  • cisco / nx-os / 14.0(2c)
  • cisco / nx-os / 14.0(3c)
  • cisco / nx-os / 14.0(3d)
  • cisco / nx-os / 14.1(1i)
  • cisco / nx-os / 14.1(1j)

Showing 6 representative product identities from 76 source matches. Confirm exact affected versions with the linked vendor and NVD evidence.

Matched remediation archetype

Cryptography, certificate, signature, and channel validation

This catalog composition supplies bounded fallback guidance. Explicitly reviewed curated workflows load with the complete record below.

Check exposure

  • Inventory affected algorithms, key uses, trust stores, certificate validation settings, random sources, and plaintext channels across clients and services.
  • Determine which secrets, identities, signatures, or data protections depend on the affected primitive or validation path.
  • Check debug, compatibility, fallback, and hostname or audience override settings in build and runtime configuration.

Remediate safely

  • Use a maintained platform cryptographic API with approved algorithms, modes, parameters, randomness, and full peer identity validation.
  • Remove insecure fallback and validation bypasses; separate keys by purpose and load them from managed secret storage.
  • Plan rotation or reissuance for affected keys, certificates, tokens, hashes, or ciphertext and document compatibility sequencing.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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