CVE-2023-20118MalwarePublished 29 Oct 2025

Smoking Gun Uncovered: RPX Relay at PolarEdge's Core Exposed

Source AlienVault OTX General

Authoritative record:CVE-2023-20118· Medium 6.5

Exploited in the wild · KEV due 24 Mar 2025 : block it and hunt for it in your logs now.

Data as of 25 Oct 2026, 22:45 UTC

CVSS base score

6.5Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

KEV deadline: 24 Mar 2025 US federal agencies must patch by this date; a sensible deadline for everyone else.

Exploitation evidence

t = 0 is the CVE’s publication on cve.org

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 5 Apr 2023
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: evidence found.
Listed in CISA KEV 1.9 years after disclosure
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

CVE published
on cve.org
2023-04-0516:05Z, t = 0
Added to CISA KEV (opens in a new tab)
exploitation confirmed
2025-03-03, 1.9 years after disclosure
KEV remediation due
US federal deadline
2025-03-24, 2.0 years after disclosure

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), CISA KEV (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 2026-10-25.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
CiscoCisco Small Business RV Series Router Firmware	Affected =1.0.1.17 =1.0.2.03 =1.1.0.09 =1.1.1.19 =1.1.1.06 =1.2.1.13 =1.2.1.14 =1.3.1.12 =1.3.2.02 =1.3.1.10 =1.4.2.15 =1.4.2.17 =1.4.2.19 =1.4.2.20 =1.4.2.22 =1.5.1.05 =1.5.1.11 =1.5.1.13	Fixed in–

Description

The PolarEdge threat actor operates a sophisticated botnet infrastructure leveraging a newly discovered RPX_Client component and over 140 VPS nodes as RPX Servers. This infrastructure uses a multi-hop relay design involving more than 25,000 compromised IoT devices to conceal attack origins and enable proxy services and remote command execution. The botnet exploits CVE-2023-20118 to compromise IoT devices, facilitating anonymized and encrypted communications via SOCKS5 and Trojan protocols. Despite no known active exploits in the wild, the infrastructure poses a medium severity risk due to its potential for stealthy persistence, evasion, and large-scale disruptive attacks such as DDoS. The use of suspicious certificates and reverse-connect proxies complicates detection and mitigation efforts. The threat primarily impacts IoT ecosystems globally, with a focus on European organizations.

Impact

The PolarEdge botnet infrastructure enables attackers to leverage compromised IoT devices for large-scale distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, potentially disrupting critical services in sectors such as manufacturing, healthcare, smart cities, and utilities. The use of proxy protocols and encrypted communications complicates network monitoring and incident response, increasing the risk of prolonged undetected compromises. Exploitation of CVE-2023-20118 may lead to unauthorized access, data breaches, and lateral movement within affected networks, threatening confidentiality and integrity. The botnet's obfuscation techniques and use of suspicious certificates hinder detection, raising the risk of stealthy persistence and advanced evasion. Although currently rated medium severity due to no known active exploits, the potential for significant operational disruption and reputational damage remains high if leveraged for large-scale attacks.

Defensive guidance

Organizations should inventory IoT devices to identify those vulnerable to CVE-2023-20118 and apply patches or firmware updates if available. Implement strict network segmentation to isolate IoT devices from critical systems to limit lateral movement. Deploy advanced network monitoring capable of detecting anomalous outbound connections, especially those involving SOCKS5 or Trojan-protocol traffic indicative of RPX server activity. Use certificate inspection and validation to detect and block suspicious certificates linked to this infrastructure. Integrate threat intelligence feeds to update detection rules with relevant indicators of compromise such as the provided hash and CVE reference. Strengthen access controls and enforce multi-factor authentication on IoT device management interfaces and proxy servers. Consider deploying deception technologies to detect proxy node registrations and unusual client connections. Regularly update incident response plans to address complexities introduced by reverse-connect proxy infrastructures and encrypted communications.

Summary

PolarEdge's infrastructure includes a newly identified RPX_Client component acting as a jumpserver within the Operational Relay Box (ORB) network, providing proxy and remote command execution capabilities. The botnet comprises 140 VPS nodes functioning as RPX Servers and over 25,000 infected IoT devices as RPX Clients, forming a multi-hop relay system to obscure attack sources. The botnet exploits CVE-2023-20118, a vulnerability in IoT devices, to expand its network. RPX Servers manage proxy nodes and support SOCKS5 and Trojan protocols, enabling encrypted and anonymized communications. The infrastructure uses multiple suspicious certificates to legitimize and obfuscate malicious traffic. This design allows control over devices behind NATs or firewalls, enhancing resilience and persistence. Although no active exploits are currently known, the botnet's capabilities present a tangible threat to IoT environments and critical infrastructure sectors.

Indicators of compromise

Hashes 1

827797a9bff728ae6f46abd505e67a15e40b0ba69a8dc92a36fd90d9974c9593

CVEs 1

CVE-2023-20118

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Exploitation evidence

Timeline

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 25 Oct 2026, 22:45 UTC

MITRE ATT&CK techniques13 from threat tags

Technical details

Indicators of compromise

Hashes 1

CVEs 1

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