CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2020-3446 — Cisco Encs 5406-W Firmware security vulnerability

Critical CVSS 9.8

A vulnerability in Cisco Virtual Wide Area Application Services (vWAAS) with Cisco Enterprise NFV Infrastructure Software (NFVIS)-bundled images for Cisco ENCS 5400-W Series and CSP 5000-W Series appliances could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to log into the NFVIS CLI of an affected device by using accounts that have a default, static password. The vulnerability exists because the affected software has user accounts with default, static passwords. An attacker with access to the NFVIS CLI of an affected device could exploit this vulnerability by logging into the CLI. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to access the NFVIS CLI with administrator privileges.

Severity
Critical
CVSS
9.8 (3.1)
Published
2020-08-26
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
operating-system
Weaknesses
CWE-798

Affected products

  • cisco / encs_5406-w_firmware / 6.4(1)
  • cisco / encs_5406-w_firmware / 6.4(3d)
  • cisco / encs_5408-w_firmware / 6.4(1)
  • cisco / encs_5408-w_firmware / 6.4(3d)
  • cisco / encs_5412-w_firmware / 6.4(1)
  • cisco / encs_5412-w_firmware / 6.4(3d)

Showing 6 representative product identities from 10 source matches. Confirm exact affected versions with the linked vendor and NVD evidence.

Matched remediation archetype

Authentication bypass and missing authentication

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Check exposure

  • Map every affected endpoint and protocol path, including alternate ports, legacy routes, recovery flows, service accounts, and machine-to-machine access.
  • Confirm which deployments enable the affected authentication mode and whether the interface is reachable from untrusted networks.
  • Review session, token, credential, and proxy trust configuration without attempting account takeover.

Remediate safely

  • Apply the supported fix and centralize fail-closed authentication before protected request handling.
  • Remove default or embedded credentials, rotate affected secrets and sessions, and bind authentication decisions to the intended audience and channel.
  • Add negative tests for alternate routes, malformed or absent credentials, recovery flows, and proxy-derived identity.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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