CVE-2023-20046
A vulnerability in the key-based SSH authentication feature of Cisco StarOS Software could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to elevate privileges on an affected device. This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of user-supplied credentials. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a valid low-privileged SSH key to an affected device from a host that has an IP address that is configured as the source for a high-privileged user account. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to log in to the affected device through SSH as a high-privileged user. There are workarounds that address this vulnerability.
Scoring
- Severity
- HIGH
- CVSS base score
- 8.8
- CVSS vector
- CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- EPSS probability
- 0.69%
- CWE
- CWE-289
- Published
- 2023-05-09
- Last modified
- 2026-03-13
Affected products
- Cisco Cisco ASR 5000 Series Software
- Cisco Cisco ASR 5000 Series Software
- Cisco Cisco ASR 5000 Series Software
- Cisco Cisco ASR 5000 Series Software
- Cisco Cisco ASR 5000 Series Software
- Cisco Cisco ASR 5000 Series Software
- Cisco Cisco ASR 5000 Series Software
- Cisco Cisco ASR 5000 Series Software
Weakness type
Related vulnerabilities
- CVE-2021-34746 — Cisco Enterprise NFV Infrastructure Software Authentication Bypass Vulnerability
- CVE-2025-29266 — Unraid 7.0.0 before 7.0.1 allows remote users to access the Unraid WebGUI and web console as root without authentication
- CVE-2024-56511 — DataEase has an unauthorized vulnerability
- CVE-2026-8457 — WooCommerce - Social Login <= 2.8.7 - Unauthenticated Authentication Bypass via Forged Apple 'id_token' JWT
- CVE-2026-15980 — MyHome Core <= 4.4.5 - Authentication Bypass to Account Takeover via Activation Token
- CVE-2025-13613 — Elated Membership <= 1.2 - Authentication Bypass via Social Login
- CVE-2026-9701 — Eventer <= 4.4.2 - Insecure Password Reset Mechanism to Unauthenticated Privilege Escalation
- CVE-2023-1803 — Authentication Bypass in Redline Router