# CVE-2024-20440: Cisco Smart License Utility - Information Disclosure

> Live exploitation tracking for CVE-2024-20440 by the CrowdSec Live Exploit Tracker, built from real-world attack data crowdsourced from CrowdSec's global network.

Page: https://tracker.crowdsec.net/cves/CVE-2024-20440

## Key facts

- **Exploitation phase:** Limited Exploitation. The vulnerability is known but shows very limited attacker interest or exploitation activity.
- **CVSS score:** 7.5
- **Public exploit available:** Yes
- **Affected products:** Cisco Smart License Utility
- **Weaknesses:** CWE-532 (Insertion of Sensitive Information into Log File)

## Description

A vulnerability in Cisco Smart Licensing Utility could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to access sensitive information.

This vulnerability is due to excessive verbosity in a debug log file. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted HTTP request to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to obtain log files that contain sensitive data, including credentials that can be used to access the API.

## CrowdSec analysis

[CVE-2024-20440](https://euvd.enisa.europa.eu/vulnerability/CVE-2024-20440) is a vulnerability in Cisco Smart Licensing Utility that allows unauthenticated remote attackers to access sensitive diagnostic log files, potentially exposing credentials and other confidential details.

CrowdSec has been tracking this vulnerability and its exploits since 3rd of April 2025.

CrowdSec network observations suggest that most exploitation of CVE-2024-20440 involves focused reconnaissance to identify viable targets. Attackers typically tailor their campaigns based on system exposure and configuration. It is unlikely that a given attack is accidental.
Telemetry from the CrowdSec network also shows that exploitation activity for CVE-2024-20440 remains steady week-over-week. Attack volumes are consistent with long-term trends, indicating sustained interest from threat actors. CVE-2024-20440 continues to be an active part of the threat landscape and will likely remain this way for the forseeable future.

Exploitation attempts typically target URLs containing `/cslu/v1/var/logs/customer-cslu-lib-log.log`.

## Timeline

- 2024-09-04: CVE Published. CVE-2024-20440 is published to NVD.
- 2025-04-03: Rule Released. CrowdSec releases a rule to detect CVE-2024-20440 exploitation attempts against the CrowdSec Network.
- 2025-04-07: CrowdSec First Seen. CrowdSec observes in-the-wild exploitation of CVE-2024-20440 for the first time.

## References

- https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-cslu-7gHMzWmw
- https://github.com/projectdiscovery/nuclei-templates/blob/main/http/cves/2024/CVE-2024-20440.yaml

## Live exploitation data

The [Live Exploit Tracker page](https://tracker.crowdsec.net/cves/CVE-2024-20440) follows observed exploitation activity for CVE-2024-20440. [Request an API key](https://tracker.crowdsec.net/request-api-key) for full access to its exploitation timeline, attacking IP addresses and blocklists.