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Nx OsOperating system · Cisco

CVE-2016-1341

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2016-02-24
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges 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 NX-OS 7.0(1)N1(1), 7.0(1)N1(3), and 7.0(4)N1(1) on Nexus 2000 Fabric Extender devices has a blank root password, which allows local users to gain privileges via unspecified vectors, aka Bug ID CSCur22079.

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

A critical vulnerability exists in Cisco NX-OS 7.0(1)N1(1), 7.0(1)N1(3), and 7.0(4)N1(1) on Nexus 2000 Fabric Extender devices where the root account has a blank/empty password, allowing any local user to gain root privileges by simply accessing the system.

MitigationImmediately set a strong, unique password for the root account on all affected Nexus 2000 Fabric Extender devices running the vulnerable NX-OS versions. Verify no other accounts have blank passwords.

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
Nx OsOperating system
Affected:= 7.0\(1\)n1\(1\)= 7.0\(1\)n1\(3\)= 7.0\(4\)n1\(1\)

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
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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 device model
    Run 'show version' or 'show inventory' to confirm the device is a Nexus 2000 Fabric Extender
    Affected if Device model contains 'Nexus 2000' or 'N2K' in the output
  2. Check the NX-OS version
    Run 'show version' and locate the 'NX-OS' or 'system version' line
    Affected if Version is exactly 7.0(1)N1(1), 7.0(1)N1(3), or 7.0(4)N1(1)
  3. Verify root account configuration
    Run 'show running-config | include "username root"' or check the TACACS/local account configuration file
    Affected if Root account has no password set, appears with empty password field, or has a blank password hash

If the device is a Nexus 2000 Fabric Extender running NX-OS version 7.0(1)N1(1), 7.0(1)N1(3), or 7.0(4)N1(1) and the root account has no password configured, the environment is affected.

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

Immediately set a strong, unique password for the root account on all affected Nexus 2000 Fabric Extender devices running the vulnerable NX-OS versions. Verify no other accounts have blank passwords.

Fix this in Nx Os Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,090
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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-2016-1341 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data