CVE-2023-20168A vulnerability in TACACS+ and RADIUS remote authentication for Cisco NX-OS Software could allow an unauthenticated, local attacker to…
- 7.1HighCVSS base score
- 0.24%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 85% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- NonePublic exploitsnone known yet
Description
A vulnerability in TACACS+ and RADIUS remote authentication for Cisco NX-OS Software could allow an unauthenticated, local attacker to cause an affected device to unexpectedly reload. This vulnerability is due to incorrect input validation when processing an authentication attempt if the directed request option is enabled for TACACS+ or RADIUS. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by entering a crafted string at the login prompt of an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the affected device to unexpectedly reload, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition.
Timeline
ID reserved
By cisco
- 10 months later
· 10 months later
Published
- 12 months later
· 12 months later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| ciscoCNA (assigner) | 3.1 | High7.1 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H |
| NVDNVD · Modified | 3.1 | Medium6.5 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 0.24% · top 85% of all CVEs (12 Nov 2026)
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 7.1.
Affected products
- affected 4.2(1)SV1(4)
- affected 4.2(1)SV1(4a)
- affected 4.2(1)SV1(4b)
- affected 4.2(1)SV1(5.1)
- affected 4.2(1)SV1(5.1a)
- affected 4.2(1)SV1(5.2)
- affected 4.2(1)SV1(5.2b)
- affected 4.2(1)SV2(1.1)
- affected 4.2(1)SV2(1.1a)
- affected 4.2(1)SV2(2.1)
- affected 4.2(1)SV2(2.1a)
- affected 4.2(1)SV2(2.2)
- affected 4.2(1)SV2(2.3)
- affected 5.2(1)SM1(5.1)
- affected 5.2(1)SM1(5.2)
- affected 5.2(1)SM1(5.2a)
- affected 5.2(1)SM1(5.2b)
- affected 5.2(1)SM1(5.2c)
- affected 5.2(1)SM3(1.1)
- affected 5.2(1)SM3(1.1a)
- affected 5.2(1)SM3(1.1b)
- affected 5.2(1)SM3(1.1c)
- affected 5.2(1)SM3(2.1)
- affected 5.2(1)SV3(1.4)
- affected 5.2(1)SV3(1.1)
- affected 5.2(1)SV3(1.3)
- affected 5.2(1)SV3(1.5a)
- affected 5.2(1)SV3(1.5b)
- affected 5.2(1)SV3(1.6)
- affected 5.2(1)SV3(1.10)
- affected 5.2(1)SV3(1.15)
- affected 5.2(1)SV3(2.1)
- affected 5.2(1)SV3(2.5)
- affected 5.2(1)SV3(2.8)
- affected 5.2(1)SV3(3.1)
- affected 5.2(1)SV3(1.2)
- affected 5.2(1)SV3(1.4b)
- affected 5.2(1)SV3(3.15)
- affected 5.2(1)SV3(4.1)
- affected 5.2(1)SV3(4.1a)
- and 304 more
What to do
Exploitation: The Cisco Product Security Incident Response Team (PSIRT) is not aware of any public announcements or malicious use of the vulnerability that is described in this advisory.
References
References1
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2023-24347 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2023-20168)Record last updated .