CVE-2023-20181 [Medium] | XSS in Spa500ds Firmware

A vulnerability in the web-based management interface of Cisco Small Business SPA500 Series IP Phones could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to conduct XSS attacks. This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of user-supplied input by the web-based management interface of the affected software. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by persuading a user to click a crafted link. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary script code in the context of the affected interface or access sensitive, browser-based information.

#	Date	Old EPSS score	New EPSS score	Delta (New - Old)
1	2026-06-15	0.17%	0.43%	+0.26%
2	2026-04-28	0.06%	0.17%	+0.11%
3	2023-08-10	—	0.06%	—

Date

Old EPSS score

New EPSS score

Delta (New - Old)

2026-06-15

0.17%

0.43%

+0.26%

2026-04-28

0.06%

0.17%

+0.11%

2023-08-10

—

0.06%

—

Base score	Version	Severity	Vector	Exploitability	Impact	Score source
6.1	3.1	MEDIUM	`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N` Click to expand Attack vector (AV:N) Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine. 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:R) A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land. Scope (S:C) Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius. Confidentiality (C:L) Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump. Integrity (I:L) Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes. Availability (A:N) Service keeps running; no real outage angle.	2.8	2.7	[email protected]
6.1	3.1	MEDIUM	`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N` Click to expand Attack vector (AV:N) Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine. 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:R) A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land. Scope (S:C) Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius. Confidentiality (C:L) Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump. Integrity (I:L) Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes. Availability (A:N) Service keeps running; no real outage angle.	2.8	2.7	[email protected]

Base score

Version

Severity

Vector

Exploitability

Impact

Score source

6.1

3.1

MEDIUM

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N Click to expand

Attack vector (AV:N): Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
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:R): A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:C): Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:L): Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:L): Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:N): Service keeps running; no real outage angle.

2.8

2.7

[email protected]

6.1

3.1

MEDIUM

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N Click to expand

Attack vector (AV:N): Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
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:R): A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:C): Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:L): Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:L): Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:N): Service keeps running; no real outage angle.

2.8

2.7

[email protected]

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-20181

Vendor	Product	Version	Raw CPE
cisco	spa500ds_firmware	—	cpe:2.3:o:cisco:spa500ds_firmware:-:::::::*
cisco	spa500s_firmware	—	cpe:2.3:o:cisco:spa500s_firmware:-:::::::*
cisco	spa501g_firmware	—	cpe:2.3:o:cisco:spa501g_firmware:-:::::::*
cisco	spa502g_firmware	—	cpe:2.3:o:cisco:spa502g_firmware:-:::::::*
cisco	spa504g_firmware	—	cpe:2.3:o:cisco:spa504g_firmware:-:::::::*
cisco	spa508g_firmware	—	cpe:2.3:o:cisco:spa508g_firmware:-:::::::*
cisco	spa509g_firmware	—	cpe:2.3:o:cisco:spa509g_firmware:-:::::::*
cisco	spa512g_firmware	—	cpe:2.3:o:cisco:spa512g_firmware:-:::::::*
cisco	spa514g_firmware	—	cpe:2.3:o:cisco:spa514g_firmware:-:::::::*
cisco	spa525_firmware	—	cpe:2.3:o:cisco:spa525_firmware:-:::::::*
cisco	spa525g_firmware	—	cpe:2.3:o:cisco:spa525g_firmware:-:::::::*
cisco	spa525g2_firmware	—	cpe:2.3:o:cisco:spa525g2_firmware:-:::::::*

References for CVE-2023-20181

URL	Tags
https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-spa-web-multi-7kvPmu2F	Vendor Advisory

URL

CVE-2023-20181

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-20181

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-20181

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-20181

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-20181

References for CVE-2023-20181