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Unified Communications ManagerApplication · Cisco

CVE-2023-20116

MEDIUM · 5.7 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-06-28
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
61/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable

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 Administrative XML Web Service (AXL) API of Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Unified CM) and Cisco Unified Communications Manager Session Management Edition (Unified CM SME) could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected device. This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of user-supplied input to the web UI of the Self Care Portal. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending crafted HTTP input to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause a DoS condition on the affected device.

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 exists in the AXL (Administrative XML Web Service) API of Cisco Unified Communications Manager due to insufficient validation of user-supplied input to the Self Care Portal web UI. An authenticated, remote attacker can send crafted HTTP requests to cause a denial of service condition on affected devices.

MitigationApply the Cisco patch when available and ensure the AXL API and Self Care Portal are accessible only to authenticated, authorized users to reduce attack surface.

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:= 11.5\(1.10000.6\)= 12.0\(1.10000.10\)= 12.5\(1.10000.22\)= 14.0\(1.10000.20\)

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
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/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 Cisco Unified Communications Manager version
    Access the Cisco Unified Communications Manager admin interface and navigate to About > Version, or run the 'show version' command via CLI. Alternatively, query the AXL API service with an authenticated request to retrieve the system version.
    Affected if The installed version matches 11.5(1.10000.6), 12.0(1.10000.10), 12.5(1.10000.22), or 14.0(1.10000.20)
  2. Confirm AXL API is enabled
    Log into the Cisco Unified Communications Manager Administration interface and navigate to Cisco Unified Serviceability > Service Activation. Verify whether the 'Cisco AXL Web Service' service is activated.
    Affected if The AXL Web Service is running and accessible on the device
  3. Confirm Self Care Portal is enabled
    In the Cisco Unified Communications Manager Administration interface, navigate to System > Application User Settings, or check under Cisco Unified Communications Manager CDR Analysis and Reporting > System > Tools > Self Care Portal status to verify the portal is accessible.
    Affected if The Self Care Portal web interface is enabled and reachable
  4. Check for external AXL API access
    Review firewall rules or access control lists that allow external access to port 8443 (default AXL port) or the Self Care Portal. Inspect the Cisco Unified Communications Manager HTTP (HTTP/AXL) service bindings to determine if services are bound to external interfaces.
    Affected if The AXL API or Self Care Portal is accessible from untrusted networks

Your environment is affected if you are running one of the exact Cisco Unified Communications Manager versions (11.5(1.10000.6), 12.0(1.10000.10), 12.5(1.10000.22), or 14.0(1.10000.20)) AND the AXL API and Self Care Portal are both enabled and accessible.

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

Apply the Cisco patch when available and ensure the AXL API and Self Care Portal are accessible only to authenticated, authorized users to reduce attack surface.

Fix this in Unified Communications Manager Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
15.0 hours of engineering $2,690
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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-2023-20116 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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