CISA Releases Guidance for Addressing Cisco IOS XE Web UI Vulnerabilities

Today, CISA, in response to active, widespread exploitation, released guidance addressing two vulnerabilities, CVE-2023-20198 and CVE-2023-20273, affecting Cisco’s Internetworking Operating System (IOS) XE Software Web User Interface (UI). An unauthenticated remote actor could exploit these vulnerabilities to take control of an affected system. Specifically, these vulnerabilities allow the actor to create a privileged account that provides complete control over the device.   

CISA urges organizations running Cisco IOS XE Web UI to review CISA’s guidance and immediately implement the mitigations outlined in:

• Cisco Security Advisory: Multiple Vulnerabilities in Cisco IOS XE Software Web UI Feature
• Cisco Talos blog: Active exploitation of Cisco IOS XE Software Web Management User Interface vulnerabilities

These mitigations include disabling the HTTP Server feature on internet-facing systems, and hunt for malicious activity on their network.