Cisco StarOS Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

published 2020-10-08 6 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2020-24872

cvss: 4.4; version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev: Not listed; not in CISA's catalog
epss: 0.4%; EPSS 0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 31%
public exploits: 0; none known

A vulnerability in the CLI of Cisco StarOS operating system for Cisco ASR 5000 Series Routers could allow an authenticated, local attacker to elevate privileges on an affected device. The vulnerability is due to insufficient input validation of CLI commands. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending crafted commands to the CLI. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the root user. To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would need to have valid administrative credentials on an affected device.

Patch / fix

fixed in 1

cisco staros 21.19.n4

CISA SSVC

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

Exploit prediction

0.38% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 31% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by	version	score	vector
CNA	3.1	4.4	CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
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	7.2	AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

Affected products

Cisco Cisco ASR 5000 Series Software

Classification

Weakness

CWE-20 Improper Input Validation
CWE-78 Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command

References

tools.cisco.com /security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-staros-priv-esc-gGCUMFxv
vendor-advisory

Sources

CVE List CVE-2020-3601
NVD CVE-2020-3601

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Summary