Threats / Cisco / CVE-2023-20118
CVE-2023-20118
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-08-04
Cisco Small Business RV Series Routers vulnerability
Cisco Small Business RV Series Routers contain a command injection vulnerability in the web management interface allowing authenticated remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands with root privileges.
Verdict
Today item — known-exploited.
An authenticated attacker can inject OS commands through the web interface to gain complete control of affected routers, potentially compromising network traffic, enabling lateral movement, and facilitating data exfiltration or network disruption.
CISA KEV Yes · 2025-03-035EPSS 0.54107 (verify live)6CVSS 6.53CISA SSVC Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Impact: total4
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreReported exploitation
14 independent public reports of in-the-wild exploitation are cataloged.Distinct reporting sources (vendor, incident response, government); open them for the underlying claims.
Exploited in the wild
Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2025-03-03).
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.54107 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
CVSS 6.5 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N) · Affected: Cisco, Small Business RV Series Routers. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.CVSS — CNA-assigned (CVE.org), version 3.1, set at disclosure.
Weakness (CWE)
Mapped to CWE-77 Command Injection — weakness family: Injection.CWE — CNA-assigned (CVE.org); the weakness class drives how the flaw is exploited.
CISA SSVC (triage disposition)
Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Technical Impact: totalCISA's own stakeholder-specific triage inputs, published in the CVE record (CISA Coordinator role). NOTE: this is CISA's three decision points; the final Act/Attend/Track decision also requires a Mission & Well-being input not published here, so no overall decision is asserted.
Currency of the record
CISA added this to its KEV catalog 698 days after the CVE record was published.KEV lag = CISA-KEV dateAdded − CVE.org datePublished; a floor on how long the known-exploited flaw sat in the public record before the federal catalog listed it. Severity/weakness here is CNA- or CISA-assigned (current at disclosure), independent of NVD's analysis backlog.
02
Who’s exploiting it?
— attribution turns risk into urgencyAttribution not established
No confirmed (advisory-backed) threat-actor attribution is established for this record. Absence of a named actor is not absence of compromise — see Coverage & confidence.
03
Why it matters
— the attack path, told twice: adversary, then board1
Front door — unauthenticated access narrative 1
Attacker
I authenticate to the router's web management interface using valid credentials.
Business
Legitimate administrative access is expected; the vulnerability lies in insufficient input validation after authentication.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I craft a malicious input containing shell metacharacters in a management parameter to inject arbitrary OS commands.
Business
The router processes user input without proper sanitization, allowing command injection to bypass application logic.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
I execute commands with root-level privileges to modify router configuration, install backdoors, or exfiltrate sensitive data.
Business
Complete compromise of router functionality enables persistent access, network surveillance, and potential pivot points for infrastructure attacks.
04
What to do
— defensible action- Remediate per the vendor advisory — confirm the fixed build for your version and verify exposure.1
Say it to the boardA vulnerability with this evidence profile is a defensible budget line, not a backlog ticket — fund the change against the proof above.
05