CVE-2023-20101: A vulnerability in Cisco Emergency Responder could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to log in to an a

This week

CRITICAL 9.8REMOTEMITIGATE

CVE-2023-20101 is a critical-severity flaw (CVSS 9.8) affecting emergency responder. Below: why it ranks where it does, which versions are affected, what to do, and the exact commands.

A vulnerability in Cisco Emergency Responder could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to log in to an affected device using the root account, which has default, static credentials that cannot be changed or deleted. This vulnerability is due to the presence of static user credentials for the root account that are typically reserved for use during development. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by using the account to log in to

Why this priority

Critical severity
Remotely exploitable, no login, no user action

No fix is published yet: follow the downgrade or mitigation steps.

Risk facts

CVSS score	9.8 (Critical)
Attack vector	Network (remote)
Attack complexity	Low
Privileges needed	None
User interaction	None
EPSS exploit chance	2.6% (top 14%)
CISA exploited list	No
Weakness	CWE-798
Published	2023-10-04
Last modified	2026-06-17

Publisher (CNA): Cisco Systems, Inc. · Vendor: cisco

Last updated 2026-06-17 · Sources: CVE Program, NVD, CISA KEV, EPSS and vendor advisories · How we score

Am I affected?

Timeline

2023-10-04 17:15 UTCPublished CVE record published
2026-06-17 05:29 UTCUpdated Record last modified

cisco emergency responder MITIGATE

Affected: 12.5\(1\)su4

Fixed in: no fixed release known

Safe to downgrade to: no unaffected older release

1. Check installed version

apt-cache policy emergency-responder || rpm -q emergency-responder || emergency-responder --version

No fixed or unaffected release known

Apply the vendor mitigation from the advisory, disable the affected feature, or restrict network access.

Verify at the official source NVD · CVE Program · Report a problem with this page
Scores and fixes here are computed automatically from those and other public sources. Confirm with the vendor advisory before changing production systems.

Quick answers

How do I fix CVE-2023-20101?

emergency responder: mitigate or apply the listed mitigation. Exact commands for each OS are on this page.

Is CVE-2023-20101 being exploited?

CVE-2023-20101 is not on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list at the time of the last update. Check again, as this can change.

What does CVE-2023-20101 affect?

CVE-2023-20101 affects emergency responder. Severity is critical (CVSS 9.8). A vulnerability in Cisco Emergency Responder could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to log in to an affected device using the root account, which has default, static credentials that cannot be changed or deleted. This vulnerabil

How urgent is CVE-2023-20101?

Priority 61/100. Critical severity; Remotely exploitable, no login, no user action

Software pages

Cisco vulnerabilities

Related CVEs

CVE-2024-20352 MEDIUM 4.9 MITIGATE A vulnerability in Cisco Emergency Responder could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to conduct a direct
CVE-2024-20347 MEDIUM 4.3 MITIGATE A vulnerability in Cisco Emergency Responder could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to conduct a CSRF
CVE-2023-20266 MEDIUM 6.5 DOWNGRADE DOWNGRADE A vulnerability in Cisco Emergency Responder, Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Unified CM), Cisco Unified
CVE-2023-20259 HIGH 8.6 DOWNGRADE DOWNGRADE A vulnerability in an API endpoint of multiple Cisco Unified Communications Products could allow an unauthenti
CVE-2021-1226 MEDIUM 4.3 MITIGATE MITIGATE A vulnerability in the audit logging component of Cisco Unified Communications Manager, Cisco Unified Communic

References

← Back to latest CVEs