iOSOperating system · Cisco
CVE-2015-6385
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 · uneditedThe publish-event event-manager feature in Cisco IOS 15.5(2)S and 15.5(3)S on Cloud Services Router 1000V devices allows local users to execute arbitrary commands with root privileges by leveraging administrative access to enter crafted environment variables, aka Bug ID CSCux14943.
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 confidenceLocal privilege escalation vulnerability in Cisco IOS on Cloud Services Router 1000V devices. The publish-event event-manager feature allows authenticated administrators to execute arbitrary commands with root privileges by entering crafted environment variables.
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
iOSOperating system
= 15.5\(2\)s= 15.5\(3\)sCVSS 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
- None
- Confidentiality
- Complete
- Integrity
- Complete
- Availability
- Complete
AV:L/AC:L/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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Identify device model and iOS versionRun 'show version' command and look for 'CSR1000V' in the hardware description and check the iOS version number displayedAffected if Device is a Cloud Services Router 1000V and iOS version is exactly 15.5(2)s or 15.5(3)s
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Verify event-manager feature is configuredRun 'show running-config | include event-manager' or 'show event-manager configuration' to see if Cisco Embedded Event Manager (EEM) is enabledAffected if The event-manager or publish-event feature is configured on the device
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Check for EEM policies with environment variablesRun 'show event-manager policy' to list all registered EEM policies and inspect their configuration for environment variablesAffected if Any EEM policies exist that use environment variables, especially those not created by the administrator
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Review recent EEM policy execution historyRun 'show event-manager history policy' to see recent EEM policy triggers and check for unexpected executionsAffected if EEM policies have been executed unexpectedly or at unusual times
The device is affected if it is a CSR1000V running iOS version 15.5(2)s or 15.5(3)s AND the event-manager feature is enabled, regardless of whether malicious EEM policies are currently visible.
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 dataRestrict administrative access to trusted personnel, implement least privilege, and apply Cisco-provided patches when available. Monitor for unauthorized administrative sessions.
Fix this in iOS
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,120.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2015-6385 — 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-2015-6385 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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- 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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