Telepresence Video Communication Server SoftwareApplication · Cisco
CVE-2015-6318
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 · uneditedCisco TelePresence Video Communication Server (VCS) Expressway X8.5.1 and X8.5.2 allows local users to write to arbitrary files via an unspecified symlink attack, aka Bug ID CSCuv11969.
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 confidenceCisco TelePresence VCS Expressway X8.5.1 and X8.5.2 contain a local symlink attack vulnerability allowing local users to write to arbitrary files on the system. This could enable privilege escalation or modification of sensitive system files by exploiting a race condition in file handling operations.
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
Telepresence Video Communication Server SoftwareApplication
= x8.5.1= x8.5.2CVSS 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
- M
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Complete
- Integrity
- Complete
- Availability
- Complete
AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/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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Check installed VCS Expressway versionAccess the VCS admin web interface and navigate to Overview > System page, or run 'show version' command via CLI to retrieve the exact software versionAffected if Version is exactly 8.5.1 or 8.5.2
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Verify local user accounts existCheck for local user accounts configured on the VCS via the admin interface under Users > Local Users, or via CLI command 'user list'Affected if Local user accounts are enabled and exist on the system
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Confirm symlink-based file operations are possibleReview system logs for any suspicious symlink creation or file access patterns in /tmp or other writable directories, and audit file permissions on critical system filesAffected if World-writable directories exist where the VCS process writes files without proper validation
Your environment is affected if the installed Cisco TelePresence VCS Expressway software is exactly version 8.5.1 or 8.5.2 and local user access is enabled, allowing the symlink race condition to be exploited.
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 dataUpgrade to Cisco VCS Expressway X8.6 or later where the vulnerability is patched. If immediate upgrade is not possible, restrict local user access and monitor for suspicious file system activity.
Fix this in Telepresence Video Communication Server Software
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation12.0 h
- Testing10.0 h
- Review / QA6.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $9,504.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2015-6318 — 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-2015-6318 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
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