dbcve.org
Nx OsOperating system · Cisco

CVE-2023-20050

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-02-23
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 8.2 / 9.3 or later.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
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
A vulnerability in the CLI of Cisco NX-OS Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system of an affected device. This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of arguments that are passed to specific CLI commands. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by including crafted input as the argument of an affected command. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system with the privileges of the currently logged-in user.

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 · moderate confidence

Authenticated local command injection in Cisco NX-OS CLI due to insufficient argument validation. An attacker with CLI access can inject arbitrary OS commands running with the privileges of the logged-in user.

MitigationApply Cisco-provided patches for NX-OS; restrict CLI access to trusted users only; follow least-privilege principles for administrative accounts.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

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
Nx OsOperating system
Affected:all versions< 8.2\(9\)< 9.3\(10\)< 10.2\(4\)

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

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

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify the installed NX-OS version
    Run 'show version' in the NX-OS CLI or use SNMP/remote management to query the system version
    Affected if The version is below 8.2(9), 9.3(10), or 10.2(4), or is an 'all versions' release that has not been patched
  2. Determine if CLI access is granted to untrusted or low-privilege users
    Review user accounts and their privilege levels using 'show users' and 'show role' commands, or review AAA configuration with 'show aaa authentication login'
    Affected if Any user account with CLI access (even read-only) exists beyond trusted administrators
  3. Check for recent unauthorized CLI sessions or command modifications
    Review system logs and accounting records using 'show logging last 100' or 'show accounting log' for unexpected command patterns
    Affected if Logs show commands originating from user sessions that were not initiated by legitimate administrators
  4. Verify if the vulnerable CLI feature is accessible
    Confirm that command injection vectors exist by reviewing which CLI commands accept user-supplied arguments; the vulnerability affects any command that passes insufficiently validated arguments to the underlying OS
    Affected if Users can access CLI commands that accept arbitrary arguments without strict input validation

You are affected if your NX-OS version is below 8.2(9), 9.3(10), or 10.2(4) AND untrusted or low-privilege users have CLI access to inject commands.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to 8.2 / 9.3 / 10.2 or later
Fixed in 8.29.310.2
Interim mitigation

Apply Cisco-provided patches for NX-OS; restrict CLI access to trusted users only; follow least-privilege principles for administrative accounts.

Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to NX-OS 8.2(9) or later, 9.3(10) or later, or 10.2(4) or later (choose the appropriate train for your hardware)

  1. Identify the current Cisco NX-OS version using 'show version' command
  2. Determine if the current version is vulnerable: versions below 8.2(9), below 9.3(10), or below 10.2(4) are affected
  3. Schedule a maintenance window for the upgrade
  4. Back up the current configuration using 'copy running-config startup-config' or 'copy running-config tftp://<server>'
  5. Upgrade to a fixed release: 8.2(9) or later for 8.2.x trains, 9.3(10) or later for 9.3.x trains, or 10.2(4) or later for 10.2.x trains
  6. After upgrade, verify the new version with 'show version' and confirm the vulnerability is patched
  7. Test critical functionality to ensure the upgrade did not introduce issues
Caveat Review Cisco NX-OS release notes for your target version for any configuration changes or hardware support modifications; some upgrades may require EOS/legacy hardware considerations

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

Fix this in Nx Os Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2023-20050 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data