CVE-2025-20294
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 CLI and web-based management interface of Cisco UCS Manager Software could allow an authenticated, remote attacker with administrative privileges to perform command injection attacks on an affected system and elevate privileges to root. These vulnerabilities are due to insufficient input validation of command arguments supplied by the user. An attacker could exploit these vulnerabilities by authenticating to a device and submitting crafted input to the affected commands. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system of the affected device with root-level privileges.
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 confidenceCisco UCS Manager Software contains multiple command injection vulnerabilities in its CLI and web-based management interface. An authenticated attacker with administrative privileges can submit crafted input to affected commands, bypassing input validation and executing arbitrary operating system commands with root-level privileges.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
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
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify Cisco UCS Manager installationCheck if Cisco UCS Manager software is installed or running in your environment. Look for UCS Manager processes, services, or the associated management IP/hostname in your network inventory.Affected if UCS Manager software is present in the environment
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Determine UCS Manager versionAccess the UCS Manager CLI via console or SSH and run the 'show version' command to obtain the installed version number. Compare this against any affected version ranges provided by Cisco advisories.Affected if The installed version falls within affected version ranges (version comparison required)
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Verify web management interface exposureCheck if the UCS Manager web-based management interface (HTTPS port 443 or configured web port) is accessible from network locations. Review firewall rules and access lists controlling access to UCS Manager web interfaces.Affected if Web management interface is exposed to network where untrusted users could potentially authenticate
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Confirm administrative account existenceReview UCS Manager user accounts with administrative or privileged access using 'show admin-session' or user accounting logs. Identify accounts with administrator-level privileges.Affected if Administrative accounts exist in UCS Manager (required condition for exploitation)
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Audit recent administrative sessions and commandsReview UCS Manager logs, accounting records, or command history for suspicious or unexpected CLI commands, especially those showing abnormal patterns or originating from unexpected sources.Affected if Suspicious administrative command activity is observed in logs
Environment is affected if Cisco UCS Manager software is running and the version matches affected ranges, combined with accessible administrative interfaces or accounts.
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 Cisco's vendor patches for UCS Manager when released, and restrict administrative access to trusted personnel only while monitoring for suspicious command activity.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,408.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-20294 — 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-2025-20294 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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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.
- 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