CVE-2023-20246: Multiple Cisco products are affected by a vulnerability in Snort access control policies that could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacke
Noroxi assessment
Priority: Monitor (action score 21/100)
- The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
- Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 0.73% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 54.7% of all records.
- Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it. No account or password is required. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
- According to the record, no fixed version is available yet.
Low priority for now. Update when a fix is released; follow the vendor's advisory.
Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it
Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS
Multiple Cisco products are affected by a vulnerability in Snort access control policies that could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to bypass the configured policies on an affected system. This vulnerability is due to a logic error that occurs when the access control policies are being populated. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by establishing a connection to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to bypass configured access control rules on the affected system.
- Published
- Nov 1, 2023
- Updated
- Aug 11, 2026
- EPSS
- 0.7% · 54th percentile
- CWE
- CWE-290
Report tools
Action score
21
Monitor
Low priority for now.
- CVSS
- 21 / 40 · 5.3 / 10
- CISA KEV
- 0 / 30 · Not listed
- EPSS
- 0 / 30 · 0.7%
CISA SSVC decision
- Exploitation
- none
- Automatable
- no
- Technical impact
- partial
Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.
CNA vs NVD score
- NVD
- 5.3
- CNA · cisco
- 5.8
- 0.5 point gap
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:N
The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.
Get told when this record changes
- Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
- No public exploit code on record
- No fixed version yet
If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.
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Noroxi analysis
What does it mean in your environment?
The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.
We use this product, ask for helpAffected systems
Is your version affected?
Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.
| Vendor | Product | CPE |
|---|---|---|
| snort | snort | cpe:2.3:a:snort:snort |
| cisco | secure firewall threat defense | cpe:2.3:a:cisco:secure_firewall_threat_defense |
| cisco | ios xe | cpe:2.3:o:cisco:ios_xe |
Affected versions
NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.
- cisco ios xe17.12 and later · before 17.12.2
- cisco secure firewall threat defense7.0.0 and later · up to 7.3.1.1 inclusive
- snort snort3.0.0 and later · before 3.1.57.0
Versions reported by the vendor
Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (cisco). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.
Cisco Cisco Firepower Threat Defense Software
- 7.0.0, 7.0.0.1, 7.0.1, 7.0.1.1, 7.0.2, 7.0.2.1, 7.0.3, 7.0.4, 7.0.5, 7.1.0, 7.1.0.1, 7.1.0.2 … (+9)affected
Cisco Cisco Umbrella Insights Virtual Appliance
- N/Aaffected
Same product
snort: all recordsOther highest-scoring records for the same primary product.
- CVE-2006-5276Stack-based buffer overflow in the DCE/RPC preprocessor in Snort before 2.6.1.3, and 2.7 before beta 2; and Sourcefire Intrusion Sensor; all64This week
- CVE-2003-0033Buffer overflow in the RPC preprocessor for Snort 1.8 and 1.9.x before 1.9.1 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via fragmente44Plan
- CVE-2016-1417Untrusted search path vulnerability in Snort 2.9.7.0-WIN32 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code and conduct DLL hijacking attac36Monitor
Published before and after this one in the same product
- ← EarlierCVE-2007-0251Jan 16, 2007 · Integer underflow in the DecodeGRE function in src/decode.c in Snort 2.6.1.2 allows remote attackers to trigger dereferencing of certain mem32Monitor
- ← EarlierCVE-2008-1804May 22, 2008 · preprocessors/spp_frag3.c in Sourcefire Snort before 2.8.1 does not properly identify packet fragments that have dissimilar TTL values, whic28Monitor
- ← EarlierCVE-2009-3641Oct 28, 2009 · Snort before 2.8.5.1, when the -v option is enabled, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) via a crafted 29Monitor
Remediation
Which version to upgrade to
Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.
No fix version is recorded for this entry. Check the references for vendor advisories.
Exploit status
No known public exploit
No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.
Research context
For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.
Timeline
From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.
No dated events beyond publication.
No history yet (it accumulates with the daily EPSS job).
Patch and commit links
Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.
No commit or PR link among the references.
Credits
All researchersFinders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.
No credits in the CNA record.
Variant candidates
Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.
No nightly-computed relations.
Chain candidates
An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.
—
Bug bounty scope
No known public program.
Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).
Technical details
Attack conditions
- Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
- No account or password is required.
- No user action is required.
- No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
If successful
- Confidentiality
- none
- Integrity
- low · data or configuration can be modified
- Availability
- none
- Attack vector
- Network
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality impact
- None
- Integrity impact
- Low
- Availability impact
- None
Weakness class (CWE)
CWE-290 · Authentication Bypass by SpoofingCVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
nvd-primary
Attack context
MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.
Attack patterns (CAPEC)
- Exploitation of Trusted IdentifiersCAPEC-21likelihood: High · High
- Exploiting Trust in ClientCAPEC-22likelihood: High · High
- Creating a Rogue Certification Authority CertificateCAPEC-459likelihood: Medium · Very High
- Web Services API Signature Forgery Leveraging Hash Function Extension WeaknessCAPEC-461High
- Signature SpoofCAPEC-473
- Signature Spoofing by MisrepresentationCAPEC-476likelihood: Low · High
- Session Credential Falsification through PredictionCAPEC-59likelihood: High · High
- Reusing Session IDs (aka Session Replay)CAPEC-60likelihood: High · High
ATT&CK techniques
- Masquerading: Invalid Code SignatureT1036.001
- Access Token ManipulationT1134
- Access Token Manipulation:Token Impersonation/TheftT1134.001
- Steal Application Access TokenT1528
- Steal Web Session CookieT1539
- Use Alternate Authentication Material:Web Session CookieT1550.004
- Subvert Trust Controls: Code SigningT1553.002
- Adversary-in-the-MiddleT1557
Change log
No changes recorded on tracked fields yet. Score, KEV, exploit maturity and fix status changes appear here.
References
Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.