dbcve.org
AsyncosOperating system · Cisco

CVE-2023-20215

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Developing Published 2023-08-03
No fix yet
No fix has been published. The vendor has not shipped a fixed release or patch. You remain exposed.
See remediation →
62/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges 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 scanning engines of Cisco AsyncOS Software for Cisco Secure Web Appliance could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to bypass a configured rule, allowing traffic onto a network that should have been blocked. This vulnerability is due to improper detection of malicious traffic when the traffic is encoded with a specific content format. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by using an affected device to connect to a malicious server and receiving crafted HTTP responses. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to bypass an explicit block rule and receive traffic that should have been rejected by the device.

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 · low confidence
Developing — this CVE was published recently and its authoritative NVD entry is still being established, so we're holding a technical summary until the source data settles rather than publish something unreliable. Re-checking after 2026-08-02.

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
AsyncosOperating system
Affected:= 11.7.0-406= 11.7.0-418= 11.7.1-006= 11.7.1-020= 11.7.1-049= 11.7.2-011= 11.8.0-414= 11.8.1-023= 11.8.3-018= 11.8.3-021= 12.0.1-268= 12.0.3-007

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
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

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

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 AsyncOS 11.7.1-032 or later (specific fixed build varies - check sec.cloudapps.cisco.com advisory for exact version per release train)

  1. 1. Identify the exact Cisco Secure Web Appliance model and current AsyncOS version running using the 'version' command or web UI.
  2. 2. Navigate to Cisco's official security advisory for CVE-2023-20215 on sec.cloudapps.cisco.com to obtain the specific fixed release for your version.
  3. 3. Plan maintenance window - upgrading AsyncOS may require service interruption.
  4. 4. Backup current configuration from the web UI (System Administration > Configuration File) or CLI using 'techsupport' command.
  5. 5. Download the appropriate AsyncOS upgrade image from Cisco (requires valid service contract).
  6. 6. Upload the upgrade file via web UI (System Administration > System Upgrade) or CLI using 'loadconfig' or upgrade commands.
  7. 7. Follow standard AsyncOS upgrade procedure, including any pre-upgrade checks recommended by Cisco.
  8. 8. After upgrade, verify the new version matches the fixed release and confirm block rules function correctly.
Caveat Upgrading AsyncOS may cause temporary service disruption; verify compatibility with any custom policies or integrations before upgrading in production.

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

No vendor fix exists Asyncos 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.

Add your voice

Free. We build fixes in the order the community asks for them — and we’ll tell you the moment this one lands.

Can’t wait

We develop and verify an original fix where the vendor hasn’t, from $1,600. Deployed to your staging first — never straight to production.

Scope it with us

See what else the community needs solved on the solutions-needed board.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-20215 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2023-20215 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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