NVD / CVE Program· CNA cisco

CVE-2023-20268: Cisco Access Point Software Uncontrolled Resource Consumption Vulnerability

MediumCVSS 4.7 · v3.1—No exploit No fix recorded

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 18/100)

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: 0.26% (FIRST EPSS).
Someone on the same network segment 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

A vulnerability in the packet processing functionality of Cisco access point (AP) software could allow an unauthenticated, adjacent attacker to exhaust resources on an affected device.  This vulnerability is due to insufficient management of resources when handling certain types of traffic. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a series of specific wireless packets to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to consume resources on an affected device. A sustained attack could lead to the disruption of the Control and Provisioning of Wireless Access Points (CAPWAP) tunnel and intermittent loss of wireless client traffic.

BDU:2023-06267

Published: Sep 27, 2023
Updated: Jun 17, 2026
EPSS: 0.2% · 18th percentile
CWE: CWE-400

Report tools

JSON

Action score

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS: 18 / 40 · 4.7 / 10
CISA KEV: 0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS: 0 / 30 · 0.2%

CNA vs NVD score

NVD: 4.7
CNA · cisco: 4.7; agree

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.

Is your version affected? Check it

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.

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Affected 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
cisco	wireless lan controller software	cpe:2.3:o:cisco:wireless_lan_controller_software
cisco	catalyst 9800 embedded wireless controller firmware	cpe:2.3:o:cisco:catalyst_9800_embedded_wireless_controller_firmware
cisco	catalyst 9800 embedded wireless controller	cpe:2.3:h:cisco:catalyst_9800_embedded_wireless_controller
cisco	business 150ax firmware	cpe:2.3:o:cisco:business_150ax_firmware
cisco	business 150ax	cpe:2.3:h:cisco:business_150ax
cisco	business 151axm firmware	cpe:2.3:o:cisco:business_151axm_firmware
cisco	business 151axm	cpe:2.3:h:cisco:business_151axm

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

cisco business 150ax firmwarebefore 10.6.2.0
cisco business 151axm firmwarebefore 10.6.2.0
cisco catalyst 9800 embedded wireless controller firmwarebefore 17.3.8
cisco catalyst 9800 embedded wireless controller firmware17.4.0 and later · before 17.6.6
cisco catalyst 9800 embedded wireless controller firmware17.8.0 and later · before 17.9.4
cisco wireless lan controller softwarebefore 8.10.190.0

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 Aironet Access Point Software
- 8.3.135.0, 8.3.140.0, 8.8.111.0, 8.5.151.0, 8.3.104.46, 8.10.121.0, 8.4.1.218, 8.3.122.0, 8.8.100.0, 8.3.131.0, 8.5.140.0, 8.3.132.0 … (+28)affected
Cisco Cisco Aironet Access Point Software (IOS XE Controller)
- 17.1.1t, 16.10.1s, 16.10.1, 17.3.1, 16.11.1b, 17.1.2, 17.1.1, 16.12.4, 17.2.2, 16.12.3, 16.11.1a, 16.12.2t … (+28)affected
Cisco Cisco Business Wireless Access Point Software
- 10.3.1.0, 10.0.1.0, 10.2.1.0, 10.1.1.0, 10.3.1.1, 10.4.1.0, 10.6.1.0, 10.1.2.0, 10.0.2.0, 10.7.1.0, 10.2.2.0, 0.0.0.0 … (+5)affected

Same product

cisco: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

CVE-2016-1363Buffer overflow in the redirection functionality in Cisco Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) Software 7.2 through 7.4 before 7.4.140.0(MD) and 7.
41Plan
CVE-2014-0703Cisco Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) devices 7.4 before 7.4.110.0 distribute Aironet IOS software with a race condition in the status of the…
41Plan
CVE-2007-2036The SNMP implementation in the Cisco Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) before 20070419 uses the default read-only community public, and the…
41Plan

Published before and after this one in the same product

← EarlierCVE-2023-20056Mar 23, 2023 · Cisco Access Point Software Denial of Service Vulnerability
22Monitor
← EarlierCVE-2023-20097Mar 23, 2023 · Cisco Access Point Software Command Injection Vulnerability
26Monitor
Later →CVE-2024-20354Mar 27, 2024 · A vulnerability in the handling of encrypted wireless frames of Cisco Aironet Access Point (AP) Software could allow an unauthenticated…
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 researchers

Finders, 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

Someone on the same network segment 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: none
Availability: low · the service can be disrupted

Impact can extend beyond the vulnerable component (scope changes).

Attack vector: Adjacent
Attack complexity: Low
Privileges required: None
User interaction: None
Scope: Changed
Confidentiality impact: None
Integrity impact: None
Availability impact: Low

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-400 · Uncontrolled Resource Consumption

CVSS vector

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

nvd-primary

Root cause

Code that parses nested structures sets no depth or size limit. A small input can turn into a disproportionate processing load.

The bug in code

The whole CWE-400 class

A representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.

Vulnerable

1function expand(node) {
2  return node.children.map(expand);
3}

Fixed

1const MAX_DEPTH = 32;
2function expand(node, depth = 0) {
3  if (depth > MAX_DEPTH) throw new Error("too deep");
4  return node.children.map((c) => expand(c, depth + 1));
5}

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)

ATT&CK techniques

Endpoint Denial of ServiceT1499

Change log

No changes recorded on tracked fields yet. Score, KEV, exploit maturity and fix status changes appear here.

References

sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-ap-dos-capwap-DDMCZS4m

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records