Unified Computing SystemHardware / appliance · Cisco
CVE-2012-4103
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedethanalyzer in the fabric-interconnect component in Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) allows local users to gain privileges by embedding commands in an unspecified parameter, aka Bug ID CSCtq02686.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · moderate confidenceLocal privilege escalation vulnerability in Cisco UCS fabric-interconnect component where the ethanalyzer tool allows local users to execute arbitrary commands by embedding them in an unspecified parameter.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data
Unified Computing SystemHardware / appliance
all versionsCVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Authentication
- Single
- Confidentiality
- Complete
- Integrity
- Complete
- Availability
- Complete
AV:L/AC:L/Au:S/C:C/I:C/A:C
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify Cisco UCS fabric-interconnectLog into the UCS Manager CLI or GUI and check the system inventory or equipment status to confirm the device is a fabric-interconnect model in a Cisco UCS domainAffected if The system is a Cisco UCS fabric-interconnect running any firmware version
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Confirm local user access existsReview the UCS Manager local user database (show local-user or similar in UCS CLI) to list accounts that can access the fabric-interconnectAffected if Local user accounts exist beyond just administrator accounts
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Check user roles for ethanalyzer accessIn UCS Manager, examine the roles assigned to local users - specifically look for roles that grant command-line access where the ethanalyzer tool can be invokedAffected if Any local user account has a role permitting access to the ethanalyzer tool or shell access on the fabric-interconnect
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Verify untrusted personnel have accessCross-reference local user accounts against your personnel inventory to determine if any untrusted or non-administrative users have fabric-interconnect accessAffected if Users who are not trusted administrators can log into the fabric-interconnect
A user is affected if they are running any version of Cisco UCS with a fabric-interconnect that permits local user access, particularly untrusted users, to the ethanalyzer tool.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataApply Cisco firmware updates for UCS that address Bug ID CSCtq02686. Limit local user access to only trusted personnel until patch is applied.
Fix this in Unified Computing System
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,160.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2012-4103 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2012-4103 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data