Cisco IOS XE Software for Cisco ASR 900 Series Route Switch Processor 3 Arbitrary Code Execution Vulnerabilities

published 2020-09-24 6 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2020-24784

cvss: 6.7; version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev: Not listed; not in CISA's catalog
epss: 0.3%; EPSS 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 25%
public exploits: 0; none known

Multiple vulnerabilities in the initialization routines that are executed during bootup of Cisco IOS XE Software for Cisco ASR 900 Series Aggregation Services Routers with a Route Switch Processor 3 (RSP3) installed could allow an authenticated, local attacker with high privileges to execute persistent code at bootup and break the chain of trust. These vulnerabilities are due to incorrect validations by boot scripts when specific ROM monitor (ROMMON) variables are set. An attacker could exploit these vulnerabilities by copying a specific file to the local file system of an affected device and defining specific ROMMON variables. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to run arbitrary code on the underlying operating system (OS) with root privileges. To exploit these vulnerabilities, an attacker would need to have access to the root shell on the device or have physical access to the device.

CISA SSVC

Exploitation: none
Automatable: no
Technical impact: total
Assessed: 23 mo ago (2024-11-13)

Exploit prediction

0.32% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 25% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by	version	score	vector
CNA	3.1	6.7	CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD	3.1	6.7	CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD	2.0	6.9	AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

Affected products

Cisco Cisco IOS XE Software

Classification

Weakness

CWE-749 Exposed Dangerous Method or Function
CWE-94 Improper Control of Generation of Code

Technology feeds

Cisco IOS rss critical rss

References

tools.cisco.com /security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-iosxe-rsp3-rce-jVHg8Z7c
vendor-advisory

Sources

CVE List CVE-2020-3513
NVD CVE-2020-3513

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Summary