CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2025-20309 — Cisco Unified Communications Manager security vulnerability

Critical CVSS 10

A vulnerability in Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Unified CM) and Cisco Unified Communications Manager Session Management Edition (Unified CM SME) 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 reserved for use during development. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by using the account to log in to an affected system. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to log in to the affected system and execute arbitrary commands as the root user.

Severity
Critical
CVSS
10 (3.1)
Published
2025-07-02
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
software/application
Weaknesses
CWE-798

Affected products

  • cisco / unified_communications_manager / 15.0.1.13010-1
  • cisco / unified_communications_manager / 15.0.1.13011-1
  • cisco / unified_communications_manager / 15.0.1.13012-1
  • cisco / unified_communications_manager / 15.0.1.13013-1
  • cisco / unified_communications_manager / 15.0.1.13014-1
  • cisco / unified_communications_manager / 15.0.1.13015-1

Showing 6 representative product identities from 16 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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