Cisco has released urgent security updates to remediate two medium-severity command injection vulnerabilities in its UCS Manager Software that could allow authenticated administrators to execute arbitrary commands and compromise system integrity.
Disclosed on August 27, 2025, the advisory (cisco-sa-ucs-multi-cmdinj-E4Ukjyrz) affects multiple UCS fabric interconnect platforms and underscores the importance of timely patching to prevent potential root-level escalation.
Vulnerabilities Expose CLI & Web to Injection Attacks
The advisory details two distinct vulnerabilities—CVE-2025-20294 and CVE-2025-20295—both stemming from insufficient input validation of user-supplied command arguments.
CVE-2025-20294 impacts both the command-line interface and the web-based management portal, enabling a remote attacker with administrative credentials to inject malicious commands.
Successful exploitation could grant root privileges on the underlying operating system, posing severe confidentiality and integrity risks.
Between these environments, the following scenarios illustrate the risk surface:
- Remote injection via the web GUI using crafted parameter strings.
- CLI injection when executing administrative commands over SSH.
- Privilege escalation from administrator to root-level operations.
- Potential lateral movement within the UCS domain through compromised credentials.
By contrast, CVE-2025-20295 is confined to the CLI environment. An authenticated local administrator could craft input to read, create, or overwrite arbitrary files, including critical system binaries and configuration files.
Although the required privilege level is high, the vulnerability remains a significant threat given the elevated access it affords and the absence of available workarounds.
Key details of this vulnerability include:
- File manipulation capabilities: read, create, or overwrite any OS file.
- No dependency on other vulnerabilities for exploitation.
- Requires valid administrative credentials on the UCS Manager.
- Discovered through Cisco’s internal security testing.
Both issues share a common root cause—failure to sanitize command parameters before execution. Cisco’s own security testing uncovered these gaps, and no public exploit activity has been reported to date.
However, the presence of exploitable injection vectors in widely deployed data center management tools underscores the heightened risk profile in production environments.
Wide Range of Affected Hardware & Software
The vulnerabilities affect Cisco UCS 6300, 6400, and 6500 Series Fabric Interconnects, as well as the UCS X-Series Direct Fabric Interconnect 9108 100G, running UCS Manager Software versions 4.1 and earlier, and 6.0 in certain configurations. Specific details on vulnerable and fixed releases include:
- UCS Software 4.1 and earlier: Vulnerable; upgrade required.
- UCS Software 4.2: Fixed in 4.2(3p).
- UCS Software 4.3: Fixed in 4.3(6c).
- UCS Software 6.0: Not affected.
Administrators are advised to consult the release notes for their platform to determine the precise upgrade path. Cisco emphasizes that customers confirm hardware compatibility, sufficient memory, and support continuity before applying patches.
Where release information is unclear, Cisco Technical Assistance Center or maintenance providers should be engaged for guidance.
According to the report, Cisco PSIRT explicitly states that no workarounds exist to mitigate these vulnerabilities. The only remedy is upgrading to a fixed UCS Manager Software release.
Customers should prioritize these upgrades as part of regular maintenance windows, particularly in environments where administrative interfaces are exposed to broader network segments or integrate with orchestration tools that could inadvertently amplify risk.
To streamline the remediation process, Cisco provides detailed instructions and recommended release documentation via its Security Advisories portal.
This bundle, released semiannually, covers multiple FXOS and NX-OS software issues, offering a consolidated view of available patches for all affected product lines.
For this advisory, the full technical write-up and download links for the JSON-formatted CSAF report are available on Cisco’s official security center website.
By proactively applying these updates, organizations can close critical command injection vectors and safeguard their UCS infrastructure against unauthorized root-level access.
Maintaining up-to-date software remains the most effective defense against evolving threats targeting data center management platforms.
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