Identity Services EngineApplication · Cisco
CVE-2023-20122
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 · uneditedMultiple vulnerabilities in the restricted shell of Cisco Evolved Programmable Network Manager (EPNM), Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE), and Cisco Prime Infrastructure could allow an authenticated, local attacker to escape the restricted shell and gain root privileges on the underlying operating system. 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 · moderate confidenceThis vulnerability allows an authenticated local attacker to escape the restricted shell in Cisco EPNM, ISE, and Prime Infrastructure, gaining root privileges on the underlying operating system. The flaw exists in the restricted shell enforcement mechanism, permitting privilege escalation from an authenticated low-privileged user to full root access.
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
Identity Services EngineApplication
= 3.2CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify installed Cisco productRun 'show version' or check /opt/CSU/cuic for Cisco ISE, /opt/CSU/epnm for EPNM, or /opt/CSU/pi for Prime Infrastructure to determine which product is installedAffected if The system is running Cisco ISE, EPNM, or Prime Infrastructure
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Check Cisco ISE versionExecute 'show version' or access the admin GUI to view the ISE version under Administration > System > LicensingAffected if The installed version is exactly 3.2 for Cisco ISE
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Verify restricted shell is in useCheck user accounts under Administration > Users and Groups > User Identity Groups. Low-privileged users assigned to 'Super Admin' or custom shells may indicate restricted shell is being usedAffected if Low-privileged authenticated users exist with shell access to the system
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Check for local authenticated accountsReview local user accounts using 'show running-config' or the admin GUI under Administration > Users and Groups to list all local usersAffected if Local authenticated user accounts exist on the system
The environment is affected if running Cisco ISE version 3.2 (or EPNM/Prime Infrastructure with similar configurations) and low-privileged local authenticated users have shell access to the system.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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.
From vendor dataApply Cisco vendor patches when available; restrict local access to trusted administrators only and monitor for unauthorized privilege escalation attempts.
Fix this in Identity Services Engine
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,088.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-20122 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-20122 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- 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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