Skip to main content

Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command ('OS Command Injection')

CVE-2023-20050

High
7.8/10

Summary

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.

  • LOW
  • LOCAL
  • HIGH
  • UNCHANGED
  • NONE
  • LOW
  • HIGH
  • HIGH

CWE-78 - OS Command Injection

The OS command injection weakness (also known as shell injection) is a vulnerability which enables an attacker to run arbitrary OS commands on a server. This is done by modifying the intended downstream OS command and injecting arbitrary commands, enabling the execution of unauthorized OS commands. This has the potential to fully compromise the application along with all of its data, and, if the compromised process does not follow the principle of least privileges, it may compromise other parts of the hosting infrastructure as well. This weakness is listed as number ten in the 'CWE Top 25 Most Dangerous Software Weaknesses'.

References

Advisory Timeline

  • Published