CVE-2023-20243

A vulnerability in the RADIUS message processing feature of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause the affected system to stop processing RADIUS packets. This vulnerability is due to improper handling of certain RADIUS accounting requests. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted authentication request to a network access device (NAD) that uses Cisco ISE for authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA). This would eventually result in the NAD sending a RADIUS accounting request packet to Cisco ISE. An attacker could also exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted RADIUS accounting request packet to Cisco ISE directly if the RADIUS shared secret is known. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the RADIUS process to unexpectedly restart, resulting in authentication or authorization timeouts and denying legitimate users access to the network or service. Clients already authenticated to the network would not be affected. Note: To recover the ability to process RADIUS packets, a manual restart of the affected Policy Service Node (PSN) may be required. For more information, see the Details ["#details"] section of this advisory.

Published: 2023-09-06 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2023-20243 is rated Moderate Risk (52.3/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.76%). Mandatory action: Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

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-2023-20243

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 0.47% 0.76% +0.29%
2 2026-06-01 0.38% 0.47% +0.09%
3 2025-11-21 0.38%

Full EPSS history (9 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-20243

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
8.6 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H 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: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.
3.9 4.0 [email protected]
8.6 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H 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: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.
3.9 4.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-20243

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-20243

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
cisco identity_services_engine 3.1 cpe:2.3:a:cisco:identity_services_engine:3.1:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco identity_services_engine 3.1 cpe:2.3:a:cisco:identity_services_engine:3.1:patch1:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco identity_services_engine 3.1 cpe:2.3:a:cisco:identity_services_engine:3.1:patch2:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco identity_services_engine 3.1 cpe:2.3:a:cisco:identity_services_engine:3.1:patch3:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco identity_services_engine 3.1 cpe:2.3:a:cisco:identity_services_engine:3.1:patch4:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco identity_services_engine 3.1 cpe:2.3:a:cisco:identity_services_engine:3.1:patch5:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco identity_services_engine 3.1 cpe:2.3:a:cisco:identity_services_engine:3.1:patch6:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco identity_services_engine 3.2 cpe:2.3:a:cisco:identity_services_engine:3.2:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco identity_services_engine 3.2 cpe:2.3:a:cisco:identity_services_engine:3.2:patch1:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco identity_services_engine 3.2 cpe:2.3:a:cisco:identity_services_engine:3.2:patch2:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-20243

cvelogic Threat Intelligence