Vulnerability report

Exploited in the wild Confirmed confidence In CISA KEV

CVE-2023-20118

Cisco Small Business RV Series Router Firmware

Cisco Small Business RV Series Router Firmware · 1.0.1.17

Watch CVE-2023-20118 Browse KEV feed
Severity
CVSS 6.5 · Medium
Confidence
Confirmed
Exploit status
Exploited in the wild
EPSS
54.1%
First observed
—
Last observed
—

Decision summary

What security teams need to know first

Direct answers before the deeper technical record.

What it is

CVE-2023-20118 is a vulnerability affecting Cisco Small Business RV Series Router Firmware. A vulnerability in the web-based management interface of Cisco Small Business Routers RV016, RV042, RV042G, RV082, RV320, and...

Is it exploited?

Yes. Previdian tracks this CVE as a known exploited vulnerability. Confidence is confirmed. Listed in CISA KEV.

Who is affected?

Cisco Small Business RV Series Router Firmware 1.0.1.17.

What should we do?

Prioritize remediation. Validate affected assets and apply vendor fixes on an accelerated timeline.

Overview

Cisco Small Business RV Series Router Firmware

A vulnerability in the web-based management interface of Cisco Small Business Routers RV016, RV042, RV042G, RV082, RV320, and RV325 Routers could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to execute arbitrary commands on an affected device.

This vulnerability is due to improper validation of user input within incoming HTTP packets. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted HTTP request to the web-based management interface. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to gain root-level privileges and access unauthorized data. To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would need to have valid administrative credentials on the affected device.

Cisco has not and will not release software updates that address this vulnerability. However, administrators may disable the affected feature as described in the Workarounds ["#workarounds"] section.

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Cisco Affected
Cisco Small Business RV Series Router Firmware
1.0.1.17 1.0.2.03 1.1.0.09 1.1.1.19 1.1.1.06 1.2.1.13 1.2.1.14 1.3.1.12 1.3.2.02 1.3.1.10 1.4.2.15 1.4.2.17 1.4.2.19 1.4.2.20 1.4.2.22 1.5.1.05 1.5.1.11 1.5.1.13
Published
05 Apr 2023
Exploitation Reported
03 Mar 2025
Attack vector
Remote
Complexity
Low
Privileges
High
User interaction
None

Tags

nessus_scanner edge cisa

CVE References

  • CVE Record CVE.org · CVE Record https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-20118
  • cisco-sa-sbr042-multi-vuln-ej76Pke5 sec.cloudapps.cisco.com · CVE Record https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurity...

Exploitation evidence

Why Previdian marks this CVE as exploited

Third-party attestation and first-party sensor observation are shown separately so teams can judge the evidence chain.

Exploited in the wild

CISA

Recorded 03 Mar 2025

A trusted third party reported exploitation.

Known exploited vulnerability sources

Per-source evidence links for KEV attestations are available through the Previdian Pro API.

Learn about Pro API access
Source Added
CISA First 2025-03-03 00:00 UTC

Detection

Operational artifacts and observed signals

Make the evidence actionable in scanner, SOC, and edge-control workflows.

Observed signals

Request targets
User-Agents
Callback hosts
0
0
0

Request targets and User-Agents available in Pro. Callback host details available in Enterprise.

Virtual patch status

No Previdian virtual patch is currently available. Future rules ship for ModSecurity, Cloudflare, and AWS WAF.

Learn about virtual patches →

Scanner Artifacts

Scanner and exploit-framework references linked to this CVE.

Scanner Reference Detected
Nessus https://www.tenable.com/plugins/nessus/173431 02 Jun 2025

Risk and context

Severity, weaknesses, and research context

CVSS v3.1

6.5 Medium

Potential damage if exploited. Separate from whether attackers are using it.

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

EPSS

54.1%

Estimated chance of exploitation in the next 30 days. Previdian's warning comes from evidence, not this score.

Weaknesses

Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in a Command ('Command Injection') CWE-77

Recent mention · The Hacker News

ViciousTrap Uses Cisco Flaw to Build Global Honeypot from 5,300 Compromised Devices

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed that a threat actor codenamed ViciousTrap has compromised nearly 5,300 unique network edge devices across 84 countries and turned them into a honeypot-like network. The threat actor has been observed exploiting a critical security flaw...

Read full advisory

Timeline

From disclosure to observed exploitation

  1. 09:25 UTC

    Nessus plugin available

    Scanner coverage available

  2. 00:00 UTC

    Added to CISA KEV

    Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

  3. 16:05 UTC

    CVE published

    Vulnerability disclosed publicly

  4. 18:47 UTC

    CVE ID reserved

    Identifier reserved by the CNA

Pro API

Automate this intelligence

Confidence, exploit status, sensor telemetry, PoCs, scanner integrations, mentions, and tags are available programmatically for VM, SOC, and CTI workflows.

Start 14-day Pro trial Read API docs
  • Evidence confidence and provenance
  • First-party sensor telemetry
  • PoC and scanner references
  • Affected versions and enrichment
  • Automation-ready JSON delivery

GET /api/v2/pro/kevs/CVE-2023-20118

Sample API response 
{
  "cve_id": "CVE-2023-20118",
  "confidence": "Confirmed",
  "cvss_score": 6.5,
  "cvss_estimated": false,
  "epss_score": 0.54107,
  "exploit_status": {
    "exploited_in_the_wild": true,
    "active_exploitation_observed": false
  },
  "sensor_telemetry": { "attempts": 0, "sensors": 0 }
}