CVE-2022-20871
Cisco Secure Web Appliance Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
A vulnerability in the web management interface of Cisco AsyncOS for Cisco Secure Web Appliance, formerly Cisco Web Security Appliance (WSA), could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to perform a command injection and elevate privileges to root. This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of user-supplied input for the web interface. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by authenticating to the system and sending a crafted HTTP packet to the affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system and elevate privileges to root. To successfully exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would need at least read-only credentials.Cisco has released software updates that address this vulnerability. There are no workarounds that address this vulnerability.Attention: Simplifying the Cisco portfolio includes the renaming of security products under one brand: Cisco Secure. For more information, see .
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- Low
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- Low
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
6.3
Cisco Secure Web Appliance Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
A vulnerability in the web management interface of Cisco AsyncOS for Cisco Secure Web Appliance, formerly Cisco Web Security Appliance (WSA), could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to perform a command injection and elevate privileges to root. This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of user-supplied input for the web interface. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by authenticating to the system and sending a crafted HTTP packet to the affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system and elevate privileges to root. To successfully exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would need at least read-only credentials.Cisco has released software updates that address this vulnerability. There are no workarounds that address this vulnerability.Attention: Simplifying the Cisco portfolio includes the renaming of security products under one brand: Cisco Secure. For more information, see .
- Record
CVE-2022-20871- CVSS 3.1
- 6.3 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L - Weakness
- CWE-78
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2022-26121
6.3
A vulnerability in the web management interface of Cisco AsyncOS for Cisco Secure Web Appliance, formerly Cisco Web Security Appliance (WSA), could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to perform a command injection and elevate privileges to root. This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of user-supplied input for the web interface. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by authenticating to the system and sending a crafted HTTP packet to the affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system and elevate privileges to root. To successfully exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would need at least read-only credentials.Cisco has released software updates that address this vulnerability. There are no workarounds that address this vulnerability.Attention: Simplifying the Cisco portfolio includes the renaming of security products under one brand: Cisco Secure. For more information, see .
- Record
EUVD-2022-26121- CVSS 3.1
- 6.3 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L - Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-rw66-6rgj-mwjh
6.3
A vulnerability in the web management interface of Cisco AsyncOS for Cisco Secure Web...
A vulnerability in the web management interface of Cisco AsyncOS for Cisco Secure Web Appliance, formerly Cisco Web Security Appliance (WSA), could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to perform a command injection and elevate privileges to root. This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of user-supplied input for the web interface. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by authenticating to the system and sending a crafted HTTP packet to the affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system and elevate privileges to root. To successfully exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would need at least read-only credentials.Cisco has released software updates that address this vulnerability. There are no workarounds that address this vulnerability.Attention: Simplifying the Cisco portfolio includes the renaming of security products under one brand: Cisco Secure. For more information, see .
- Record
GHSA-rw66-6rgj-mwjh- CVSS 3.1
- 6.3 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L - Weakness
- CWE-78
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD
6.3
A vulnerability in the web management interface of Cisco AsyncOS for Cisco Secure Web Appliance, formerly Cisco Web Security Appliance (WSA), could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to perform a command injection and elevate privileges to root. This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of user-supplied input for the web interface. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by authenticating to the system and sending a crafted HTTP packet to the affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system and elevate privileges to root. To successfully exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would need at least read-only credentials.Cisco has released software updates that address this vulnerability. There are no workarounds that address this vulnerability.Attention: Simplifying the Cisco portfolio includes the renaming of security products under one brand: Cisco Secure. For more information, see .
- Record
CVE-2022-20871- CVSS 3.1
- 6.3 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L - CVSS 3.1
- 8.8 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-78
- 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-2022-20871 is a medium vulnerability (CVSS 6.3) in Cisco Asyncos, published November 15, 2024. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 1.92%, the 79th percentile. No source names a fixed version.
References
sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-wsa-prv-esc-8PdRU8t8
sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-bw-thinrcpt-xss-gSj4CecU
sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-cssm-priv-esc-SEjz69dv
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-20871
github.com/advisories/GHSA-rw66-6rgj-mwjh