CVE-2025-20294VulnerabilityPublished 27 Aug 2025Updated 26 Feb 2026

CVE-2025-20294: Cisco Unified Computing System (Managed) · OS Command Injection

Affects Cisco Unified Computing System (Managed)Source CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 6.5 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 06:26 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

6.5Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 1.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 69% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: High
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: High
Availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: High: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide significant (e.g., administrative) control over the vulnerable component that could affect component-wide settings and files.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: High: There is a total loss of integrity, or a complete loss of protection. For example, the attacker is able to modify any/all files protected by the impacted component. Alternatively, only some files can be modified, but malicious modification would present a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 27 Aug 2025
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 2026-10-26.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2025-20294, organizations should immediately apply any patches or updates released by Cisco for affected UCS Manager versions once available. In the absence of patches, restrict administrative access to UCS Manager interfaces using network segmentation, VPNs, and strict access control lists to limit exposure. Implement strong multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all administrative accounts to reduce the risk of credential compromise. Regularly audit and monitor administrative activities and logs for suspicious command inputs or anomalous behavior indicative of exploitation attempts. Employ role-based access control (RBAC) to minimize the number of users with full administrative privileges. Conduct thorough input validation and sanitization on any custom scripts or integrations interacting with UCS Manager. Additionally, maintain an up-to-date inventory of UCS Manager versions deployed and prioritize upgrades to fixed versions. Finally, establish incident response plans specific to UCS Manager compromise scenarios to enable rapid containment and recovery.

Description

Multiple 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.

Impact

The impact of CVE-2025-20294 is substantial for organizations using Cisco UCS Manager due to the potential for complete system compromise. An attacker exploiting this vulnerability can execute arbitrary commands as root, leading to full control over the UCS management system. This can result in unauthorized access to sensitive configuration data, disruption or manipulation of server management operations, and potential pivoting to other network assets. The confidentiality and integrity of managed systems are at high risk, potentially exposing critical infrastructure and intellectual property. Although availability is not directly impacted, the attacker could indirectly disrupt services by modifying configurations or disabling management functions. Given the administrative privileges required, the threat is primarily from insider threats or attackers who have already breached perimeter defenses and obtained admin credentials. The widespread use of Cisco UCS in enterprise and cloud data centers globally means that successful exploitation could have cascading effects on business continuity and security posture.

References

sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-ucs-multi-cmdinj-E4Ukjyrz (opens in a new tab)

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 27 Feb 2026, 00:22 UTC

Technical details

References

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