Skip to main content

Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command ('OS Command Injection')

CVE-2020-3171

High
7.8/10

Summary

A vulnerability in the local management (local-mgmt) CLI of Cisco FXOS Software and Cisco UCS Manager Software could allow an authenticated, local attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system (OS) of an affected device. The vulnerability is due to insufficient input validation. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by including crafted arguments to specific commands. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying OS with the privileges of the currently logged-in user for all affected platforms excluding Cisco UCS 6400 Series Fabric Interconnects. On Cisco UCS 6400 Series Fabric Interconnects, the injected commands are executed with root privileges.

  • LOW
  • LOCAL
  • HIGH
  • UNCHANGED
  • NONE
  • LOW
  • HIGH
  • HIGH

CWE-78 - OS Command Injection

The OS command injection weakness (also known as shell injection) is a vulnerability which enables an attacker to run arbitrary OS commands on a server. This is done by modifying the intended downstream OS command and injecting arbitrary commands, enabling the execution of unauthorized OS commands. This has the potential to fully compromise the application along with all of its data, and, if the compromised process does not follow the principle of least privileges, it may compromise other parts of the hosting infrastructure as well. This weakness is listed as number ten in the 'CWE Top 25 Most Dangerous Software Weaknesses'.

References

Advisory Timeline

  • Published