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🛡️ CVE-2022-20681 — ios-xe

🟠 CVSS 7.8 — High ✅ No Known Exploit CWE-266 NVD
7.8
CVSS Score
0 Low4 Medium7 High9 Critical10

Description

A vulnerability in the CLI of Cisco IOS XE Software for Cisco Catalyst 9000 Family Switches and Cisco Catalyst 9000 Family Wireless Controllers could allow an authenticated, local attacker to elevate privileges to level 15 on an affected device. This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of user privileges after the user executes certain CLI commands. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by logging in to an affected device as a low-privileged user and then executing certain CLI commands. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands with level 15 privileges on the affected device.

How this vulnerability can be exploited

This issue can be reached with local access to the system, attack complexity is low, an attacker needs low-level privileges on the target. No user interaction is required. The scope is unchanged, so the impact stays within the vulnerable component. Rated impact: confidentiality high, integrity high, availability high.

CVSS metrics in full

The score comes from this vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

  • Attack vector: Local — a local account, shell or session on the host is needed.
  • Attack complexity: Low — the attack works reliably, with no preparation.
  • Privileges required: Low — an ordinary user account is enough.
  • User interaction: None — nobody has to be tricked into anything.
  • Scope: Unchanged — the damage stays inside the vulnerable component.
  • Confidentiality impact: High — total loss, or loss the attacker controls.
  • Integrity impact: High — total loss, or loss the attacker controls.
  • Availability impact: High — total loss, or loss the attacker controls.

Weakness class

CVE-2022-20681 is classified as CWE-266: Incorrect Privilege Assignment. A product incorrectly assigns a privilege to a particular actor, creating an unintended sphere of control for that actor.

Affected software

CVE-2022-20681 is recorded against 1 package.

  • ios-xe

Timeline and source

Published on 15 April 2022 and last revised on 17 June 2026. No public exploit is currently recorded for this entry. Record sourced from NVD.

References

tools.cisco.com
tools.cisco.com

Other advisories for this package

ios-xe has other advisories on record. If you are patching this one, these are worth checking on the same host:

Same weakness in other software

These advisories are the same class of weakness (CWE-266: Incorrect Privilege Assignment) in other software:

Details

Severity HIGH
CVSS Score 7.8
CVSS Vector CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CWE CWE-266
Public Exploit ✅ No
Source NVD
Published 2022-04-15
Updated 2026-08-20
Modified 2026-06-17
Fix URL N/A

Affected Packages

Software From version Fixed in
ios-xe — —

Similar Threats

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ⓘ Data Notice: The information presented above has been compiled from publicly available internet sources. Boteraser aggregates this data solely for informational purposes and does not independently classify, evaluate, or endorse any findings about the vulnerabilities listed. The accuracy and completeness of this information is the sole responsibility of the original publishers. Boteraser and its operators accept no liability for any decisions made based on this data.

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