CVE-2025-20112
📋 TL;DR
This vulnerability in Cisco Unified Communications and Contact Center Solutions allows authenticated local attackers with administrative ESXi hypervisor access to escape restricted shells and gain root privileges on affected devices. It affects multiple Cisco UC/CC products due to excessive permissions assigned to system commands. Attackers need administrative ESXi access to exploit this privilege escalation flaw.
💻 Affected Systems
- Cisco Unified Communications Manager
- Cisco Unified Contact Center Express
- Cisco Unity Connection
- Cisco Emergency Responder
- Cisco Finesse
- Cisco Packaged Contact Center Enterprise
⚠️ Manual Verification Required
This CVE does not have specific version information in our database, so automatic vulnerability detection cannot determine if your system is affected.
Why? The CVE database entry doesn't specify which versions are vulnerable (no version ranges provided by the vendor/NVD).
🔒 Custom verification scripts are available for registered users. Sign up free to download automated test scripts.
- Review the CVE details at NVD
- Check vendor security advisories for your specific version
- Test if the vulnerability is exploitable in your environment
- Consider updating to the latest version as a precaution
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete compromise of affected Cisco UC/CC systems with root-level access, enabling data theft, service disruption, and lateral movement within the network.
Likely Case
Privileged attackers with ESXi administrative access gain root control over specific UC/CC systems for persistence or data exfiltration.
If Mitigated
Limited impact due to proper access controls, network segmentation, and monitoring preventing unauthorized ESXi administrative access.
🎯 Exploit Status
Requires administrative access to ESXi hypervisor and knowledge of crafted command execution to escape restricted shell.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Refer to Cisco advisory for specific fixed versions per product
Vendor Advisory: https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-cucm-kkhZbHR5
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Review Cisco advisory for affected products/versions. 2. Download and apply appropriate patches from Cisco Software Center. 3. Restart affected systems after patching. 4. Verify patch installation and system functionality.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Restrict ESXi Administrative Access
allLimit ESXi hypervisor administrative access to only authorized personnel using role-based access controls.
Network Segmentation
allIsolate ESXi management interfaces and UC/CC systems from general network access.
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict access controls for ESXi administrative accounts using multi-factor authentication
- Monitor ESXi and UC/CC systems for unusual command execution or privilege escalation attempts
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check Cisco advisory for affected product versions and compare with your installed versionsCheck Version:
Product-specific - typically via product web interface or CLI (e.g., 'show version' or equivalent)Verify Fix Applied:
Verify installed version matches or exceeds patched version listed in Cisco advisory📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual command execution from ESXi administrative sessions
- Privilege escalation attempts on UC/CC systems
- Root access from non-standard accounts
Network Indicators:
- Unexpected connections from ESXi management interfaces to UC/CC systems
SIEM Query:
Search for ESXi admin login events followed by unusual command execution on UC/CC systems within short timeframes