CVE-2020-3240
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 · uneditedMultiple vulnerabilities in the REST API of Cisco UCS Director and Cisco UCS Director Express for Big Data may allow a remote attacker to bypass authentication or conduct directory traversal attacks on an affected device. For more information about these vulnerabilities, see the Details section of this advisory.
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 · moderate confidenceThis vulnerability in Cisco UCS Director and Cisco UCS Director Express for Big Data REST API allows remote attackers to either bypass authentication mechanisms or perform directory traversal attacks, potentially gaining unauthorized access to the system or accessing sensitive files outside the intended web root.
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= 6.0.0.0= 6.0.0.1= 6.0.1.0= 6.0.1.1= 6.0.1.2= 6.0.1.3= 6.5.0.0= 6.5.0.1= 6.5.0.2= 6.5.0.3= 6.5.0.4= 6.6.0.0<= 3.7.3.0CVSS 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
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/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 Director versionLog into the Cisco UCS Director web interface, navigate to Administration > System > About, or use the CLI command 'show version' to retrieve the installed software version.Affected if The installed version matches 6.0.0.0, 6.0.0.1, 6.0.1.0, 6.0.1.1, 6.0.1.2, 6.0.1.3, 6.5.0.0, 6.5.0.1, 6.5.0.2, 6.5.0.3, 6.5.0.4, or 6.6.0.0
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Identify Cisco UCS Director Express for Big Data versionLog into the Cisco UCS Director Express for Big Data interface and check the version in Administration > System > About, or run 'show version' via CLI.Affected if The installed version is 3.7.3.0 or lower
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Verify REST API is accessibleAttempt to reach the REST API endpoint via browser or curl command at the default path '/ucsd/rs' or the API login endpoint. Confirm the service responds.Affected if The REST API endpoint responds and is reachable from the network segment being assessed
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Check if authentication can be bypassedSend a crafted HTTP request to the REST API login endpoint without valid credentials, observing whether the response indicates successful authentication or returns session tokens.Affected if The API accepts unauthenticated requests or returns valid session data without proper credentials
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Check for directory traversal vulnerabilitySend an HTTP GET request to the REST API with path traversal sequences such as '../' appended to the URI, for example '/ucsd/rs/../..//etc/passwd' or similar endpoints, and observe whether the response contains file contents outside the web root.Affected if The API returns file contents from directories outside the intended web root or displays sensitive system files
The environment is affected if either Cisco UCS Director version 6.0.0.0 through 6.6.0.0 or Cisco UCS Director Express for Big Data version 3.7.3.0 or lower is installed, and the REST API is accessible and responds to unauthenticated or path traversal requests.
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 dataApply the vendor-supplied patch from Cisco for this vulnerability. If patching is immediately unfeasible, restrict network access to the REST API interface to trusted IP addresses only.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-3240 — 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-2020-3240 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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