Improper Privilege ManagementWeakness · CWE-269

CVE-2020-26063

MEDIUM · 5.4 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-11-18
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
60/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable 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
A vulnerability in the API endpoints of Cisco Integrated Management Controller could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to bypass authorization and take actions on a vulnerable system without authorization. The vulnerability is due to improper authorization checks on API endpoints. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending malicious requests to an API endpoint. An exploit could allow the attacker to download files from or modify limited configuration options on the affected system.There are no workarounds that address this vulnerability.

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

Authorization bypass vulnerability in Cisco Integrated Management Controller (IMC) API endpoints. An authenticated remote attacker can bypass proper authorization checks on API endpoints to download sensitive files or modify limited configuration options on the affected system.

MitigationApply the vendor-supplied patch from Cisco to remediate this vulnerability; no workarounds are available.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

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
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N

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 Cisco IMC installation
    Check if Cisco Integrated Management Controller is running by querying the system for IMC services or checking for IMC-related processes (such as 'imcservice' or port 443/80 if IMC is the web interface)
    Affected if The system does not have Cisco IMC installed or running, then it is not affected by this vulnerability
  2. Determine Cisco IMC version
    Access the IMC web interface or use the CLI command 'show version' via IPMI or remote access to retrieve the IMC firmware version
    Affected if The installed version falls within the vulnerable version range for CVE-2020-26063 (compare your version to Cisco's official advisory for the specific affected versions)
  3. Verify API endpoint accessibility
    Check if the IMC API endpoints are exposed by attempting to access https://<imc-ip>/api/ or reviewing the web server configuration for API endpoint enablement
    Affected if API endpoints are enabled and accessible on the IMC interface, creating the attack surface for this vulnerability
  4. Review API access logs
    Examine IMC audit or access logs for any API calls that may indicate authorization bypass attempts, such as successful API requests to sensitive endpoints without proper role-based access
    Affected if Unusual or unauthorized API access patterns are present in the logs that suggest the bypass was exploited

A system is affected if it runs a vulnerable version of Cisco IMC with API endpoints enabled and accessible, where an authenticated attacker could exploit the authorization bypass to access sensitive files or modify configurations.

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 vendor-supplied patch from Cisco to remediate this vulnerability; no workarounds are available.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2020-26063 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