CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2020-3173 — Cisco Ucs Manager security vulnerability

High CVSS 7.8

A vulnerability in the local management (local-mgmt) CLI of Cisco UCS Manager Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system (OS) on an affected device. The vulnerability is due to insufficient input validation of command arguments. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by including crafted arguments to specific commands on the local management CLI. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying OS with the privileges of the currently logged-in user for all affected platforms excluding Cisco UCS 6400 Series Fabric Interconnects. On Cisco UCS 6400 Series Fabric Interconnects, the injected commands are executed with root privileges.

Severity
High
CVSS
7.8 (3.1)
Published
2020-02-26
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
software/application
Weaknesses
CWE-78

Affected products

  • cisco / ucs_manager

Showing 1 representative product identities from 2 source matches. Confirm exact affected versions with the linked vendor and NVD evidence.

Matched remediation archetype

Command, code, expression, and template injection

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Check exposure

  • Trace untrusted values to process execution, interpreters, evaluators, template engines, dynamic imports, and administrative scripting features.
  • Determine whether the affected path is reachable across each trust boundary and which service account or host privilege it inherits.
  • Review configuration for optional execution features, unsafe compatibility modes, and shell invocation.

Remediate safely

  • Replace string-built commands or evaluated code with fixed operations and structured argument APIs that do not invoke a shell.
  • Use strict allowlists for operation identifiers and reject unexpected input before it reaches any interpreter.
  • Update the affected component and add inert regression tests covering metacharacters, encoding variants, and alternate request paths.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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