CVE-2023-20012 | Cisco Nexus 9300-FX3 Series Fabric Extender for UCS Fabric Interconnects Authentication Bypass Vulnerability

A vulnerability in the CLI console login authentication of Cisco Nexus 9300-FX3 Series Fabric Extender (FEX) when used in UCS Fabric Interconnect deployments could allow an unauthenticated attacker with physical access to bypass authentication. This vulnerability is due to the improper implementation of the password validation function. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by logging in to the console port on an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to bypass authentication and execute a limited set of commands local to the FEX, which could cause a device reboot and denial of service (DoS) condition.

Published: 2023-02-23 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2023-20012 is rated Low Risk (28.7/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.29%). Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-20012

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 0.14% 0.29% +0.15%
2 2026-03-09 0.01% 0.14% +0.13%
3 2025-11-21 — 0.01% —

Full EPSS history (8 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-20012

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.3 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:P)
Hands-on access—USB, keyboard, opening the case—not something you do purely over the wire.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 0.9 4.0 [email protected]
4.6 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:P)
Hands-on access—USB, keyboard, opening the case—not something you do purely over the wire.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 0.9 3.6 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-20012

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-20012

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
cisco nexus_93180yc-fx3s_firmware — cpe:2.3:o:cisco:nexus_93180yc-fx3s_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco nexus_93180yc-fx3_firmware — cpe:2.3:o:cisco:nexus_93180yc-fx3_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco ucs_central_software >= 4.2, < 4.2\(2d\) cpe:2.3:a:cisco:ucs_central_software:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco ucs_6536_firmware — cpe:2.3:o:cisco:ucs_6536_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco ucs_64108_firmware — cpe:2.3:o:cisco:ucs_64108_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco ucs_6454_firmware — cpe:2.3:o:cisco:ucs_6454_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-20012

cvelogic Threat Intelligence