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Nx OsOperating system · Cisco

CVE-2020-3454

HIGH · 7.2 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-08-27
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
78/100
Remediation priority · High
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 Call Home feature of Cisco NX-OS Software could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to inject arbitrary commands that could be executed with root privileges on the underlying operating system (OS). The vulnerability is due to insufficient input validation of specific Call Home configuration parameters when the software is configured for transport method HTTP. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by modifying parameters within the Call Home configuration on an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands with root privileges on the underlying OS.

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

Command injection vulnerability in Cisco NX-OS Call Home feature where insufficient input validation of configuration parameters when HTTP transport is enabled allows an authenticated attacker to inject and execute arbitrary OS commands with root privileges by modifying Call Home configuration parameters.

MitigationDisable Call Home feature if not required, or restrict administrative access to trusted personnel only. Apply Cisco's patch when available and consider using non-HTTP transport methods if Call Home is required.

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:all versions

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/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. Verify Call Home feature status
    Use the command 'show call-home status' or check the running configuration for call-home entries using 'show running-config | include call-home'. Look for Call Home feature being enabled.
    Affected if Call Home feature is enabled on the device (any version of Cisco NX-OS)
  2. Check Call Home transport configuration
    Use 'show call-home transport-method' or 'show call-home' to examine which transport methods are configured. Specifically look for HTTP transport being enabled.
    Affected if HTTP transport is listed as an enabled transport method for Call Home
  3. Review Call Home configuration parameters
    Use 'show running-config | include call-home' to examine the current Call Home configuration. Inspect the http-url, http-proxy, or other HTTP-related parameters for unexpected or suspicious values.
    Affected if HTTP transport is enabled and Call Home configuration contains custom parameters that could be manipulated (any non-default values in HTTP-related fields)
  4. Check for recent configuration changes
    Review the device's configuration change logs or use 'show logging logfile | include call-home' to identify recent modifications to Call Home settings.
    Affected if There are recent changes to Call Home configuration that were not made by authorized administrators

A system is affected if it runs any version of Cisco NX-OS with the Call Home feature enabled AND HTTP transport is configured as an active transport method.

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

Disable Call Home feature if not required, or restrict administrative access to trusted personnel only. Apply Cisco's patch when available and consider using non-HTTP transport methods if Call Home is required.

Fix this in Nx Os Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,420
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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-2020-3454 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
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