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Fencer Vulns
high 7.9

CVE-2022-20855 json

Cisco IOS XE Software for Embedded Wireless Controllers on Catalyst Access Points Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

published 2022-09-30 4 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2022-26105

cvss
7.9
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 30%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

A vulnerability in the self-healing functionality of Cisco IOS XE Software for Embedded Wireless Controllers on Catalyst Access Points could allow an authenticated, local attacker to escape the restricted controller shell and execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system of the access point. This vulnerability is due to improper checks throughout the restart of certain system processes. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by logging on to an affected device and executing certain CLI commands. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying OS as root. To successfully exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would need valid credentials for a privilege level 15 user of the wireless controller.

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
total
Assessed
2 y ago

Exploit prediction

0.36% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 30% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.1 7.9 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/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

Affected products

  • Cisco Cisco IOS XE Software

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-266 Incorrect Privilege Assignment
  • CWE-78 Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command
Technology feeds

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.