Ucs ManagerApplication · Cisco
CVE-2020-3173
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 · uneditedA vulnerability in the local management (local-mgmt) CLI of Cisco UCS Manager Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system (OS) on an affected device. The vulnerability is due to insufficient input validation of command arguments. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by including crafted arguments to specific commands on the local management CLI. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying OS with the privileges of the currently logged-in user for all affected platforms excluding Cisco UCS 6400 Series Fabric Interconnects. On Cisco UCS 6400 Series Fabric Interconnects, the injected commands are executed with root 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 confidenceCommand injection vulnerability in Cisco UCS Manager local-mgmt CLI due to insufficient input validation of command arguments. An authenticated attacker can execute arbitrary OS commands with the privileges of the logged-in user, or root privileges on UCS 6400 Series Fabric Interconnects.
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
Ucs ManagerApplication
< 3.2\(3n\)>= 4.0, < 4.0\(4c\)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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify Cisco UCS Manager versionAccess the UCS Manager CLI or GUI and run 'show version' or check the version through the web interface under Admin > Firmware ManagementAffected if The version displayed is either below 3.2(3n) OR is 4.0.x (4.0, 4.0(1), 4.0(2), 4.0(3), 4.0(4a), etc.) and below 4.0(4c)
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Confirm local-mgmt CLI is accessibleAttempt to access the local-mgmt CLI on the Fabric Interconnect by logging in and entering 'local-mgmt' from the UCS Manager CLI promptAffected if The local-mgmt CLI submode is reachable and accepts commands after authentication
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Verify authentication contextConfirm you have valid administrator credentials for UCS Manager and can authenticate to the local-mgmt CLIAffected if You can successfully authenticate as a user with access to the local-mgmt command interface
Your environment is affected if you are running Cisco UCS Manager versions below 3.2(3n) or between 4.0.x and 4.0(4c) exclusive, AND the local-mgmt CLI is accessible to authenticated users in your deployment.
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 data3.24.0
Apply the vendor-supplied patch/update for Cisco UCS Manager software. Restrict access to the local-mgmt CLI to trusted, minimum-privilege administrators until the patch can be applied.
Fix this in Ucs Manager
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 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 $5,600.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-3173 — 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-2020-3173 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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