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Unified Communications ManagerApplication · Cisco

CVE-2013-3433

MEDIUM · 6.8 CVSS v2.0 Published 2013-07-18
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
70/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Zero-click

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 · unedited
Untrusted search path vulnerability in Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) 7.1(x) through 9.1(1a) allows local users to gain privileges by leveraging unspecified file-permission and environment-variable issues for privileged programs, aka Bug ID CSCui02276.

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 · high confidence

This is an untrusted search path vulnerability in Cisco Unified Communications Manager where local users can elevate privileges by exploiting improper file permissions and environment variable handling. The vulnerability allows manipulation of the search path used by privileged programs, enabling local users to inject and execute malicious code with elevated privileges.

MitigationRestrict file permissions on directories and executables in the application search path, remove world-writable permissions, and ensure privileged programs use absolute paths rather than relative paths or environment variables for executable lookup.

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 Communications ManagerApplication
Affected:= 7.1\(2a\)= 7.1\(2a\)su1= 7.1\(2b\)= 7.1\(2b\)su1= 7.1\(3\)= 7.1\(3a\)= 7.1\(3a\)su1= 7.1\(3a\)su1a= 7.1\(3b\)= 7.1\(3b\)su1= 7.1\(3b\)su2= 7.1\(5\)

CVSS 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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify installed Cisco Unified Communications Manager version
    Run 'show version' on the CUCM CLI or check the about page in the admin web interface. The version will display as 7.1(x) where x is the specific subversion.
    Affected if The installed version matches any of these: 7.1(2a), 7.1(2a)su1, 7.1(2b), 7.1(2b)su1, 7.1(3), 7.1(3a), 7.1(3a)su1, 7.1(3a)su1a, 7.1(3b), 7.1(3b)su1, 7.1(3b)su2, or 7.1(5)
  2. Check for world-writable permissions in application directories
    Use the CLI command 'file check' or access the underlying Linux shell (if enabled) and run 'ls -la' on directories such as /usr/local/bin, /opt, or custom application paths to inspect permission flags.
    Affected if Any directory in the search path shows 'w' permission for 'other' (world-writable), such as drwxrwxrwx
  3. Inspect file permissions on bin and lib directories
    List permissions on directories containing executables (bin, sbin, lib) within the CUCM installation. Look for any executables or libraries with world-writable permissions.
    Affected if Executable files or libraries are world-writable (permissions like -rwxrwxrwx)
  4. Check for relative path usage in service configurations
    Review service startup scripts or configuration files for executables called using relative paths (./program) or environment variables ($PATH-dependent lookups) rather than absolute paths (/full/path/to/program).
    Affected if Service scripts or configurations reference executables using relative paths or rely on PATH environment variable resolution without absolute paths

A system is affected if it runs any of the listed CUCM 7.1 versions AND has world-writable directories or uses relative paths in its application search path that could be exploited for privilege escalation.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Restrict file permissions on directories and executables in the application search path, remove world-writable permissions, and ensure privileged programs use absolute paths rather than relative paths or environment variables for executable lookup.

Fix this in Unified Communications Manager Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
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Scan for this in your stack

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2013-3433 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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