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Unified Communications ManagerApplication · Cisco

CVE-2022-20859

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-07-06
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 14su2 / 14.0su2 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 Disaster Recovery framework of Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Unified CM), Cisco Unified Communications Manager IM & Presence Service (Unified CM IM&P), and Cisco Unity Connection could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to perform certain administrative actions they should not be able to. This vulnerability is due to insufficient access control checks on the affected device. An attacker with read-only privileges could exploit this vulnerability by executing a specific vulnerable command on an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to perform a set of administrative actions they should not be able to.

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

Insufficient access control checks in the Disaster Recovery framework of Cisco Unified CM, Unified CM IM&P, and Cisco Unity Connection allow authenticated attackers with read-only privileges to execute specific commands and perform administrative actions they should not have access to, resulting in privilege escalation.

MitigationApply the vendor-provided patch or upgrade to a fixed software version as specified in Cisco's security advisory for this vulnerability.

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:>= 14.0, < 14su2
Unified Communications Manager Im And Presence ServiceApplication
Affected:>= 14.0, < 14.0su2
Unity ConnectionApplication
Affected:>= 14.0, < 14su2

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 the installed Cisco product
    Determine whether the system is running Cisco Unified Communications Manager, Unified CM IM&P, or Unity Connection. This can be done via the administrative web interface (Cisco Unified CM Administration or similar) or by running 'show version' on the CLI.
    Affected if The product is one of these three: Unified CM, Unified CM IM&P, or Unity Connection.
  2. Check the installed software version
    Use the CLI command 'show version' or access the About page in the administrative interface to obtain the exact software version number.
    Affected if The version is 14.0 or higher but lower than 14su2 (or 14.0su2 for IM&P). Compare your installed version against the affected ranges provided in the advisory.
  3. Verify Disaster Recovery framework status
    Access the Disaster Recovery System page in the Cisco Unified CM Administration console (or equivalent for IM&P/Unity Connection) and check if the Disaster Recovery feature is configured or enabled.
    Affected if Disaster Recovery is configured and the version is in the vulnerable range.
  4. Review user privilege assignments
    Check the Cisco Unified CM User Management page for accounts with read-only privileges. Look for users assigned to roles such as 'Standard Read Only User' or equivalent limited roles.
    Affected if There are read-only user accounts present in the system.
  5. Check for unauthorized administrative actions
    Review system logs, audit logs, and Disaster Recovery task history for any actions performed by read-only users that should have required administrative privileges.
    Affected if Read-only users have executed commands or performed administrative actions in the Disaster Recovery framework.

A user is affected if they are running any of the three products (Unified CM, IM&P, or Unity Connection) at version 14.0 through 14su2/14.0su2 and have read-only users who may have gained elevated privileges via the Disaster Recovery framework.

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 14su2 / 14.0su2 or later
Fixed in 14su214.0su2
Interim mitigation

Apply the vendor-provided patch or upgrade to a fixed software version as specified in Cisco's security advisory for this vulnerability.

Recommended fix High confidence

Cisco Unified Communications Manager 14SU2 (or later), Unified CM IM & Presence Service 14.0SU2 (or later), Unity Connection 14SU2 (or later)

  1. 1. Identify the current exact version of Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Unified CM), Unified CM IM & Presence Service, or Unity Connection installed.
  2. 2. Review the current user roles and permissions on the affected system to identify any read-only accounts that could be exploited.
  3. 3. Download the Cisco Unified Communications Manager 14SU2 (or later) update from the Cisco Software Download center.
  4. 4. Review the Cisco upgrade documentation and release notes for the target version before proceeding.
  5. 5. Create a complete backup of the system configuration and data.
  6. 6. Schedule a maintenance window as upgrades require downtime.
  7. 7. Apply the upgrade to Unified Communications Manager, then Unified CM IM & Presence Service (if deployed), then Unity Connection (if deployed), in that order.
  8. 8. After upgrade, verify the disaster recovery framework access controls are properly enforced.
Caveat Standard Cisco upgrade considerations apply - review compatibility with other integrated systems and ensure adequate downtime window; some post-upgrade reconfiguration may be needed

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

Fix this in Unified Communications Manager Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing10.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
32.0 hours of engineering $5,580
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $8,928.

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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-2022-20859 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