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Ios XeOperating system · Cisco

CVE-2022-20719

HIGH · 7.2 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-04-15
No fix yet
No fix has been published. The vendor has not shipped a fixed release or patch. You remain exposed.
See remediation →
78/100
Remediation priority · High
Public exploit Remotely reachable Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Multiple vulnerabilities in the Cisco IOx application hosting environment on multiple Cisco platforms could allow an attacker to inject arbitrary commands into the underlying host operating system, execute arbitrary code on the underlying host operating system, install applications without being authenticated, or conduct a cross-site scripting (XSS) attack against a user of the affected software. For more information about these vulnerabilities, see the Details section of this advisory.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis
How this class of weakness works · CWE-22

A file path is built from user input without being confined, so sequences like “../” let an attacker step outside the intended directory. That can expose configuration, credentials, or source code, and in the worst case lets an attacker write files where they shouldn't. A durable fix resolves and canonicalises the path, then rejects anything that escapes a known-safe base directory.

General guidance for the path traversal class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Ios XeOperating system
Affected:= 16.3.1= 16.3.1a= 16.3.2= 16.3.3= 16.3.4= 16.3.5= 16.3.5b= 16.3.6= 16.3.7= 16.3.8= 16.3.9= 16.3.10

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
High
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Cisco IOS XE 16.3.4 or later (or the latest stable 16.x/17.x release available from Cisco)

  1. 1. Identify the current Cisco IOS XE version on the affected device using 'show version' command
  2. 2. Review the Cisco IOx documentation and ensure you have appropriate licensing for the upgrade
  3. 3. Plan a maintenance window as the upgrade will require a device reload
  4. 4. Backup the current device configuration using 'copy running-config startup-config' or export via TFTP/FTP
  5. 5. Download the fixed IOS XE release (16.3.4 or later, or a stable 16.x/17.x release with security fixes) from Cisco.com
  6. 6. Upload the new image to the device using 'copy tftp flash:' or appropriate file transfer method
  7. 7. Configure the device to boot with the new image: 'boot system flash:<filename_of_new_image>'
  8. 8. Save configuration and reload the device: 'reload'
Caveat Standard IOS XE upgrade considerations apply - verify hardware compatibility and ensure feature parity before production deployment

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

No vendor fix exists Ios Xe has not published a patch for this.

There is no version to upgrade to and no patch to apply. Every affected install stays exposed until the vendor ships a fix — or somebody else builds one.

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2022-20719 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

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What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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