Skip to content
Fencer Vulns
critical 9.1

CVE-2023-20154 json

Cisco Modeling Labs External Authentication Bypass Vulnerability

published 2024-11-15 23 mo ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2023-24333

cvss
9.1
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.9%
EPSS 0.9% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 60%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

A vulnerability in the external authentication mechanism of Cisco Modeling Labs could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to access the web interface with administrative privileges.

This vulnerability is due to the improper handling of certain messages that are returned by the associated external authentication server. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by logging in to the web interface of an affected server. Under certain conditions, the authentication mechanism would be bypassed and the attacker would be logged in as an administrator. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to obtain administrative privileges on the web interface of an affected server, including the ability to access and modify every simulation and all user-created data. To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker would need valid user credentials that are stored on the associated external authentication server. Cisco has released software updates that address this vulnerability. There are workarounds that address this vulnerability.

Patch / fix

  • cisco modeling_labs 2.5.1

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
none
Automatable
yes
Technical impact
total
Assessed
23 mo ago

Exploit prediction

0.91% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 60% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.1 9.1 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
NVD 3.1 8.1 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

Affected products

  • Cisco Cisco Modeling Labs
  • cisco modeling_labs

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-305 Authentication Bypass by Primary Weakness

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.