CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2023-20216 — Cisco Broadworks Application Delivery Platform security vulnerability

High CVSS 7.8

A vulnerability in the privilege management functionality of all Cisco BroadWorks server types could allow an authenticated, local attacker to elevate privileges to root on an affected system. This vulnerability is due to incorrect implementation of user role permissions. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by authenticating to the application as a user with the BWORKS or BWSUPERADMIN role and issuing crafted commands on an affected system. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute commands beyond the sphere of their intended access level, including initiating installs or running operating system commands with elevated permissions. There are workarounds that address this vulnerability.

Severity
High
CVSS
7.8 (3.1)
Published
2023-08-03
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
software/application
Weaknesses
CWE-269, CWE-732

Affected products

  • cisco / broadworks_application_delivery_platform
  • cisco / broadworks_application_server
  • cisco / broadworks_database_server
  • cisco / broadworks_execution_server
  • cisco / broadworks_media_server
  • cisco / broadworks_network_database_server

Showing 6 representative product identities from 17 source matches. Confirm exact affected versions with the linked vendor and NVD evidence.

Matched remediation archetype

Privilege escalation and unsafe privilege management

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

Check exposure

  • Map service accounts, operating-system identities, roles, capabilities, impersonation, set-user transitions, and administrative helper paths.
  • Determine whether untrusted users or lower-privilege processes can reach the affected transition or modify inputs it trusts.
  • Review file, socket, registry, device, job, container, and cloud-role permissions used before and after privilege changes.

Remediate safely

  • Apply the supported fix and redesign privileged operations as a minimal, authenticated, allowlisted interface.
  • Drop privileges before processing untrusted input, verify the drop succeeds, and remove unnecessary roles, capabilities, and write permissions.
  • Validate ownership and permissions at time of use and add explicit lower-to-higher privilege boundary tests.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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