Vulnerability report

Exploited in the wild Confirmed confidence In CISA KEV

CVE-2024-20439

Cisco Smart License Utility

Cisco Smart License Utility · 2.1.0

Watch CVE-2024-20439 Browse KEV feed
Severity
CVSS 9.8 · Critical
Confidence
Confirmed
Exploit status
Exploited in the wild
EPSS
97.1%
First observed
—
Last observed
—

Decision summary

What security teams need to know first

Direct answers before the deeper technical record.

What it is

CVE-2024-20439 is an unauthenticated vulnerability affecting Cisco Smart License Utility. A vulnerability in Cisco Smart Licensing Utility (CSLU) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to log into an affected...

Is it exploited?

Yes. Previdian tracks this CVE as a known exploited vulnerability. Confidence is confirmed. Listed in CISA KEV. Also confirmed by third-party sources.

Who is affected?

Cisco Smart License Utility 2.1.0.

What should we do?

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

Overview

Cisco Smart License Utility

A vulnerability in Cisco Smart Licensing Utility (CSLU) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to log into an affected system by using a static administrative credential.

This vulnerability is due to an undocumented static user credential for an administrative account. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by using the static credentials to login to the affected system. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to login to the affected system with administrative rights over the CSLU application API.

cisco Affected
cisco_smart_license_utility
2.1.0 2.0.0 2.2.0
Cisco Affected
Cisco Smart License Utility
2.1.0 2.0.0 2.2.0
Published
04 Sep 2024
Exploitation Reported
31 Mar 2025
Attack vector
Remote
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None

Tags

edge nuclei_scanner cisa nessus_scanner

CVE References

  • CVE Record CVE.org · CVE Record https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-20439
  • cisco-sa-cslu-7gHMzWmw 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 31 Mar 2025

A trusted third party reported exploitation.

Proof of concept available

Nuclei Templates

Recorded 12 Jun 2026

Public scanner or PoC coverage increases practical exploitability.

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 2025-03-31 00:00 UTC
The Shadowserver 2026-06-09 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/206672 02 Jun 2025
Nuclei https://github.com/projectdiscovery/nuclei-templates/blob/main/http/cves/2024/CVE-2024-20439.yaml 25 Apr 2025

Risk and context

Severity, weaknesses, and research context

CVSS v3.1

9.8 Critical

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

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

EPSS

97.1%

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

Weaknesses

Use of Hard-coded Credentials CWE-798 Hidden Functionality CWE-912

Potential Proof of Concepts

These PoCs are unverified and could contain malware. Use at your own risk.

Hardcoded Admin Credentials For Cisco Smart Licensing Utility API

nuclei · Created Unknown

Timeline

From disclosure to observed exploitation

  1. 14:20 UTC

    Public PoC available

    Public proof-of-concept code published

  2. 00:00 UTC

    KEV confirmed by The Shadowserver

    Exploitation attested by an external source

  3. 09:39 UTC

    Nessus plugin available

    Scanner coverage available

  4. 00:00 UTC

    Nuclei template available

    Scanner coverage available

  5. 00:00 UTC

    Added to CISA KEV

    Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

  6. 16:28 UTC

    CVE published

    Vulnerability disclosed publicly

  7. 15:08 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-2024-20439

Sample API response 
{
  "cve_id": "CVE-2024-20439",
  "confidence": "Confirmed",
  "cvss_score": 9.8,
  "cvss_estimated": false,
  "epss_score": 0.9709,
  "exploit_status": {
    "exploited_in_the_wild": true,
    "active_exploitation_observed": false
  },
  "sensor_telemetry": { "attempts": 0, "sensors": 0 }
}