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Unified Communications ManagerApplication · Cisco

CVE-2022-20752

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-07-06
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 12.5 / 14su1 or later.
See remediation →
62/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges 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 Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Unified CM), Cisco Unified Communications Manager Session Management Edition (Unified CM SME), and Cisco Unity Connection could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to perform a timing attack. This vulnerability is due to insufficient protection of a system password. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by observing the time it takes the system to respond to various queries. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to determine a sensitive system password.

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 confidence

This vulnerability in Cisco Unified CM, Unified CM SME, and Cisco Unity Connection allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to perform a timing attack by measuring response times to determine a sensitive system password. The insufficient protection of the system password during authentication creates measurable time differences that can be exploited to leak password information.

MitigationApply the relevant Cisco security updates for Unified CM, Unified CM SME, and Cisco Unity Connection. Implement constant-time password comparison algorithms in any custom integrations.

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
Unified Communications ManagerApplication
Affected:>= 12.5\(1\), < 12.5\(1\)su6>= 14.0, < 14su1
Unity ConnectionApplication
Affected:>= 12.5\(1\), < 12.5\(1\)su6>= 14.0, < 14su1

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/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 installed Cisco Unified Communications Manager version
    Access the Cisco Unified CM Administration interface and navigate to About > Version, or use the CLI command 'show version' via SSH to the publisher node
    Affected if The installed version is 12.5(1) through 12.5(1)su5, or 14.0 through 14su1 (prior to the security update)
  2. Identify installed Cisco Unity Connection version
    Access the Cisco Unity Connection Administration interface and navigate to System Settings > Version, or use the CLI command 'show version' via SSH
    Affected if The installed version is 12.5(1) through 12.5(1)su5, or 14.0 through 14su1 (prior to the security update)
  3. Verify if the login interface is network-accessible
    Check firewall rules and ACLs to determine whether the Cisco Unified CM or Unity Connection web login pages (port 443 or 8443) are reachable from untrusted networks or the internet
    Affected if The authentication interface is exposed to unauthenticated network attackers without proper network segmentation

You are affected if your installed Cisco Unified CM or Unity Connection version falls within 12.5(1) to 12.5(1)su5 or 14.0 to 14su1 AND the login interface is accessible to unauthenticated remote attackers who can measure authentication response times.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 12.5 / 14su1 or later
Fixed in 12.514su1
Interim mitigation

Apply the relevant Cisco security updates for Unified CM, Unified CM SME, and Cisco Unity Connection. Implement constant-time password comparison algorithms in any custom integrations.

Recommended fix High confidence

12.5(1)su6 or later for 12.5.x branches; 14su1 or later for 14.x branches

  1. Upgrade Cisco Unified Communications Manager from any version >= 12.5(1) but < 12.5(1)su6 to version 12.5(1)su6 or later
  2. Upgrade Cisco Unified Communications Manager from any version >= 14.0 but < 14su1 to version 14su1 or later
  3. Upgrade Cisco Unity Connection from any version >= 12.5(1) but < 12.5(1)su6 to version 12.5(1)su6 or later
  4. Upgrade Cisco Unity Connection from any version >= 14.0 but < 14su1 to version 14su1 or later
  5. Apply the upgrade following standard Cisco upgrade procedures, including backing up configurations and scheduling maintenance windows
Caveat These are patch updates within the same major release train; however, as with any system upgrade, ensure proper backups and test in a staging environment before production deployment

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Unified Communications Manager Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,176.

Scan for this in your stack

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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-2022-20752 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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