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B200 M3Hardware / appliance · Cisco

CVE-2014-7989

MEDIUM · 6.8 CVSS v2.0 Published 2014-11-07
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
Cisco Unified Computing System on B-Series blade servers allows local users to gain shell privileges via a crafted (1) ping6 or (2) traceroute6 command, aka Bug ID CSCuq38176.

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

Local privilege escalation vulnerability in Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) B-Series blade servers allows authenticated local users to gain shell privileges by executing specially crafted ping6 or traceroute6 commands. The vulnerability stems from improper input validation in these network diagnostic utilities, enabling command injection and elevation from limited user access to full shell access.

MitigationApply the relevant Cisco UCS firmware update for B-Series blades that addresses CSCuq38176. Restrict local user access and monitor for unauthorized shell access until patching is complete.

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
B200 M3Hardware / appliance
Affected:all versions
B200 M4Hardware / appliance
Affected:all versions
B22 M3Hardware / appliance
Affected:all versions
B230 M2Hardware / appliance
Affected:all versions
B260 M4Hardware / appliance
Affected:all versions
B420 M3Hardware / appliance
Affected:all versions
B440 M2Hardware / appliance
Affected:all versions
B460 M4Hardware / appliance
Affected:all versions

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 the Cisco UCS blade model
    Access the Cisco UCS Manager or check the physical server label/metadata to determine the exact model number of the B-Series blade server
    Affected if The model is one of: B200 M3, B200 M4, B22 M3, B230 M2, B260 M4, B420 M3, B440 M2, or B460 M4
  2. Confirm the device is a Cisco UCS B-Series blade
    Verify the system is a Cisco Unified Computing System B-Series blade server and not a C-Series (rack server) or other platform
    Affected if The system is a Cisco UCS B-Series blade server
  3. Check for local authenticated user accounts
    Review user accounts configured in Cisco UCS Manager with local authentication (not LDAP/AD) - these users would have shell access privileges
    Affected if Local user accounts exist in UCS Manager with shell access permissions
  4. Verify network diagnostic utilities are accessible
    Confirm that ping6 and traceroute6 commands are available to authenticated local users on the blade's service profile or CIMC interface
    Affected if Authenticated local users can execute ping6 or traceroute6 network utilities

If the system is any version of a Cisco UCS B-Series blade server (B200 M3, B200 M4, B22 M3, B230 M2, B260 M4, B420 M3, B440 M2, or B460 M4) with local user accounts that can access network diagnostic tools, the environment is affected by this vulnerability.

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

Apply the relevant Cisco UCS firmware update for B-Series blades that addresses CSCuq38176. Restrict local user access and monitor for unauthorized shell access until patching is complete.

Fix this in B200 M3 Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
21.0 hours of engineering $3,680
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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-2014-7989 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
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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