Cisco Nexus 3000 and 9000 Series Switches SFTP Server File Access (CVE-2023-20115)

medium Tenable OT Security Plugin ID 501658

Synopsis

The remote OT asset is affected by a vulnerability.

Description

A vulnerability in the SFTP server implementation for Cisco Nexus 3000 Series Switches and 9000 Series Switches in standalone NX-OS mode could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to download or overwrite files from the underlying operating system of an affected device. This vulnerability is due to a logic error when verifying the user role when an SFTP connection is opened to an affected device. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by connecting and authenticating via SFTP as a valid, non-administrator user. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to read or overwrite files from the underlying operating system with the privileges of the authenticated user. There are workarounds that address this vulnerability.

This plugin only works with Tenable.ot.
Please visit https://www.tenable.com/products/tenable-ot for more information.

Solution

Refer to the vendor advisory.

Plugin Details

Severity: Medium

ID: 501658

Version: 1.2

Type: remote

Family: Tenable.ot

Published: 9/19/2023

Updated: 10/16/2025

Supported Sensors: Tenable OT Security

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Low

Score: 2.5

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 5.5

Temporal Score: 4.1

Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:P/I:P/A:N

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2023-20115

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 5.4

Temporal Score: 4.7

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:U/RL:O/RC:C

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:cisco:nexus_3000_series_switches, cpe:/o:cisco:nexus_9000_series_switches

Required KB Items: Tenable.ot/Cisco

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Patch Publication Date: 8/23/2023

Vulnerability Publication Date: 8/23/2023

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2023-20115

Detections

Analytics