THREATPORT/VULNERABILITY/CVE-2023-20178
HIGH SEVERITY

CVE-2023-20178

Anyconnect Secure Mobility Client vulnerability

CVSS
7.8
EPSS
5.4%
EPSS pct
92th
Exploited
No known
A vulnerability in the client update process of Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client Software for Windows and Cisco Secure Client Software for Windows could allow a low-privileged, authenticated, local attacker to elevate privileges to those of SYSTEM. The client update process is executed after a successful VPN connection is established. This vulnerability exists because improper permissions are assigned to a temporary directory that is created during the update process. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by abusing a specific function of the Windows installer process. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute code with SYSTEM privileges.
Affected vendor
Cisco
Affected product
Anyconnect Secure Mobility Client
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weakness type (CWE)
  • CWE-276 — Incorrect Default Permissions
Published
2023-06-28

Risk analysis

Based on its CVSS vector, this vulnerability is exploitable with local access, low attack complexity, requiring low privileges, no user interaction. Successful exploitation leads to high impact to confidentiality, high impact to integrity, high impact to availability.

Its EPSS score of 5.4% reflects a lower probability of exploitation activity in the wild over the next 30 days, placing it above 92% of all scored CVEs.

Check your external exposure to CVE-2023-20178

  • Confirm whether Cisco Anyconnect Secure Mobility Client is running on any internet-facing host or subdomain.
  • Match discovered service fingerprints against the version affected by CVE-2023-20178.
  • Prioritise remediation if the asset is public, business-critical, or near authentication/payment flows.

How ThreatPort helps with CVE-2023-20178

ThreatPort's external attack surface scanner checks your internet-facing assets — agentlessly, from the outside in — for the exposed services and versions that CVE-2023-20178 affects, then prioritises the finding by real risk using CISA KEV and FIRST.org EPSS.

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