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Data Center Network ManagerApplication · Cisco

CVE-2020-3112

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-02-19
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 11.3 or later.
See remediation →
94/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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 REST API endpoint of Cisco Data Center Network Manager (DCNM) could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to elevate privileges on the application. The vulnerability is due to insufficient access control validation. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by authenticating with a low-privilege account and sending a crafted request to the API. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to interact with the API with administrative privileges.

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

The vulnerability exists in the REST API endpoint of Cisco DCNM where insufficient access control validation allows an authenticated attacker with low-privilege credentials to send crafted requests that elevate their session to administrative privileges. The API fails to properly enforce authorization boundaries, permitting horizontal privilege escalation.

MitigationApply the vendor-provided patch from Cisco for CVE-2020-3112. If patching is immediately infeasible, restrict network access to the DCNM REST API to trusted administration networks only.

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
Data Center Network ManagerApplication
Affected:< 11.3\(1\)

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/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 Cisco DCNM installation and version
    Access the DCNM web interface or check the installed software package. The version is typically displayed in the web UI footer or obtainable via 'dcnm-installer --version' or checking /opt/dcnm/version on the server.
    Affected if The installed version is lower than 11.3(1) (for example, 11.2(1), 11.1(x), 11.0(x), or earlier releases).
  2. Confirm REST API endpoint is accessible
    Verify that the DCNM REST API is reachable. This is typically available at https://<dcnm-host>/rest/ or can be confirmed by checking the DCNM configuration for API enablement.
    Affected if The REST API endpoint responds to requests (even with invalid credentials), indicating it is exposed.
  3. Check user authentication configuration
    Review DCNM user accounts and roles via the web UI (Administration > Users and Roles) or by querying the REST API for user privilege levels.
    Affected if There exist users with non-administrative privileges (such as read-only or operator roles) who should not have administrative access.
  4. Verify authorization enforcement on REST endpoints
    Send a crafted low-privilege REST API request attempting to access administrative functions (such as /rest/accounts/add or /rest/fabric/<name>/deploy). Observe whether the API rejects the request with proper authorization failure.
    Affected if Low-privilege authenticated users can successfully execute administrative REST API calls that should be restricted to admin roles.

You are affected if your DCNM version is below 11.3(1) AND the REST API is accessible AND low-privilege users can perform administrative actions via the API.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to 11.3 or later
Fixed in 11.3
Interim mitigation

Apply the vendor-provided patch from Cisco for CVE-2020-3112. If patching is immediately infeasible, restrict network access to the DCNM REST API to trusted administration networks only.

Fix this in Data Center Network Manager Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
15.0 hours of engineering $2,620
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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-2020-3112 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