CVE-2023-20118: Cisco Small Business RV Series Routers Command Injection Vulnerability

CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities

Name

Cisco Small Business RV Series Routers Command Injection Vulnerability

Vendor

Cisco

Product

Small Business RV Series Routers

Added to the catalog

2025-03-03

Due date for US federal agencies

2025-03-24

Weaknesses

CWE-77

Catalog version

2026.10.30

Multiple Cisco Small Business RV Series Routers contains a command injection vulnerability in the web-based management interface. Successful exploitation could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to gain root-level privileges and access unauthorized data.

Required action (CISA)

Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.

Ransomware use: CISA does not mark known use of this vulnerability in ransomware campaigns.

Links in CISA's notes

• https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-sbr042-multi-vuln-ej76Pke5
• https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-20118

Read on 2026-11-02T23:39:54.475Z under licence cisa-kev-cc0@b0067899 from https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/feeds/known_exploited_vulnerabilities.json

NVD analysis

Status

Analyzed

Published

2023-04-13T07:15:21.080

Last modified

2026-06-17T05:29:31.353

Weaknesses

CWE-77

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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References

• https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-sbr042-multi-vuln-ej76Pke5 (Mitigation, Vendor Advisory)
• https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-sbr042-multi-vuln-ej76Pke5 (Mitigation, Vendor Advisory)
• https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2023-20118 (US Government Resource)

This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.

Read on 2026-11-02T23:42:08.214Z under licence nvd-api-terms-of-use@ff2a5288 from https://services.nvd.nist.gov/rest/json/cves/2.0?cveId=CVE-2023-20118

CVE record

Assigner

cisco

State

PUBLISHED

Published

2023-04-05T16:05:41.067Z

Updated

2025-10-21T23:15:20.900Z

Problem types

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

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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References

• cisco-sa-sbr042-multi-vuln-ej76Pke5

Read on 2026-11-03T02:02:18.141Z under licence cve-terms-of-use@81bfa2f3 from https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/main/cves/2023/20xxx/CVE-2023-20118.json

Defensive techniques (MITRE D3FEND)

D3FEND maps these defensive techniques to the weakness (CWE) that NVD lists for this CVE, through the digital artifacts the weakness affects. D3FEND does not say they stop this vulnerability.

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