CVE-2020-3213
Cisco IOS XE Software Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
A vulnerability in the ROMMON of Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to elevate privileges to those of the root user of the underlying operating system. The vulnerability is due to the ROMMON allowing for special parameters to be passed to the device at initial boot up. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending parameters to the device at initial boot up. An exploit could allow the attacker to elevate from a Priv15 user to the root user and execute arbitrary commands with the privileges of the root user.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- High
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
Cisco IOS XE Software Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
A vulnerability in the ROMMON of Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to elevate privileges to those of the root user of the underlying operating system. The vulnerability is due to the ROMMON allowing for special parameters to be passed to the device at initial boot up. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending parameters to the device at initial boot up. An exploit could allow the attacker to elevate from a Priv15 user to the root user and execute arbitrary commands with the privileges of the root user.
- Record
CVE-2020-3213- CVSS 3.0
- 6.7 Medium
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-264
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2020-24484
A vulnerability in the ROMMON of Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to elevate privileges to those of the root user of the underlying operating system. The vulnerability is due to the ROMMON allowing for special parameters to be passed to the device at initial boot up. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending parameters to the device at initial boot up. An exploit could allow the attacker to elevate from a Priv15 user to the root user and execute arbitrary commands with the privileges of the root user.
- Record
EUVD-2020-24484- CVSS 3.0
- 6.7 Medium
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-637f-69rv-x68j
A vulnerability in the ROMMON of Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an authenticated, local...
A vulnerability in the ROMMON of Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to elevate privileges to those of the root user of the underlying operating system. The vulnerability is due to the ROMMON allowing for special parameters to be passed to the device at initial boot up. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending parameters to the device at initial boot up. An exploit could allow the attacker to elevate from a Priv15 user to the root user and execute arbitrary commands with the privileges of the root user.
- Record
GHSA-637f-69rv-x68j- CVSS 3.1
- 6.7 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD
A vulnerability in the ROMMON of Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to elevate privileges to those of the root user of the underlying operating system. The vulnerability is due to the ROMMON allowing for special parameters to be passed to the device at initial boot up. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending parameters to the device at initial boot up. An exploit could allow the attacker to elevate from a Priv15 user to the root user and execute arbitrary commands with the privileges of the root user.
- Record
CVE-2020-3213- CVSS 3.1
- 6.7 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - CVSS 3.0
- 6.7 Medium
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - CVSS 2.0
- 7.2 High
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C - Weakness
- CWE-264
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| aliases, published | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2020-3213 is a medium vulnerability (CVSS 6.7) in Cisco Ios Xe, published June 3, 2020. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.43%, the 37th percentile. No source names a fixed version.