CVE-2023-20046

Severity: high (CVSS 8.8 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 1.6% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2023-05-09 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-289

Description

A vulnerability in the key-based SSH authentication feature of Cisco StarOS Software could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to elevate privileges on an affected device. This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of user-supplied credentials. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a valid low-privileged SSH key to an affected device from a host that has an IP address that is configured as the source for a high-privileged user account. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to log in to the affected device through SSH as a high-privileged user. There are workarounds that address this vulnerability.

Affected products

Cisco StarOS: before 21.22.14; from 21.23.0 before 21.23.31; from 21.25.0 before 21.25.15; from 21.26.0 before 21.26.17; from 21.27.0 before 21.27.6; from 21.28.0 before 21.28.3 — fixed in 21.22.14, 21.23.31, 21.25.15, 21.26.17, 21.27.6, 21.28.3

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Cisco StarOS 21.22.14, 21.23.31, 21.25.15, 21.26.17. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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