CVE-2025-20309: Cisco Unified Communications Manager · Use of Hard-coded Credentials
Affects Cisco Unified Communications ManagerSource CVE Database V5
Not known to be exploited · CVSS 10.0 Critical.
Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 06:26 UTC
- EPSS
- 1.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 67% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:HExploitation evidence
Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 2 Jul 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.
What to do
Affected software
| Product | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| Cisco Cisco Unified Communications Manager | Affected
| Fixed in– |
AI-suggested
To mitigate CVE-2025-20309, organizations should immediately identify and inventory all affected Cisco Unified Communications Manager versions within their environment. Cisco has not provided patch links in the provided data, so organizations must monitor Cisco’s official security advisories for patches or updates that remove or disable the hard-coded root credentials. In the interim, network-level mitigations should be implemented, including restricting access to Unified CM management interfaces via firewalls and VPNs, employing strict network segmentation to isolate Unified CM servers from untrusted networks, and monitoring for any unauthorized login attempts or anomalous activity on these systems. Deploying multi-factor authentication (MFA) on all administrative access points where possible can add an additional layer of defense, although it may not protect against this specific root credential issue. Organizations should also conduct thorough audits of Unified CM logs to detect any signs of exploitation and prepare incident response plans tailored to potential compromise scenarios. If feasible, consider deploying intrusion detection/prevention systems (IDS/IPS) with signatures targeting attempts to use the hard-coded credentials. Finally, organizations should engage with Cisco support for guidance and prioritize upgrading to fixed versions once available.
Description
A vulnerability in Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Unified CM) and Cisco Unified Communications Manager Session Management Edition (Unified CM SME) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to log in to an affected device using the root account, which has default, static credentials that cannot be changed or deleted. This vulnerability is due to the presence of static user credentials for the root account that are reserved for use during development. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by using the account to log in to an affected system. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to log in to the affected system and execute arbitrary commands as the root user.