Evidence used
- No CISA KEV confirmation is currently recorded.
- Exploitation requires an existing local or physical foothold with privileges.
- EPSS is 0.14% for the current model date.
BlackTreeCVE IntelligenceFull vulnerability report · 2025
CVE-2025-20112High confidence
Cisco Unified Communications Products Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
Cisco · Cisco Emergency Responder
Official source article: Cisco CISCO-SA-CUCM-KKHZBHR5 ↗. Check the applicable product and release in the original source.
5.1MediumCVSS 3.1
Patch only the product branches with a verified fix
Fix availability varies by productMedium technical severity with no CISA KEV confirmation; remediate through the normal risk-based patch cycle unless local exposure raises the priority. Verified remediation exists for at least one product or source, but 10 structured product or package states remain unresolved. Apply remediation only to the exact product branch confirmed by its source.
R
Open reassessment dashboard →Operational reassessment
Published severity in operational context
Published severityMedium→Operational priority:Low, lowered one band.downgradedsince 26 Feb 2026
Compensating controls
- Validate the affected product branch and deploy the verified fixed release.
- Restrict local access and enforce least privilege on affected hosts.
- Monitor vendor guidance and exploitation sources for a material change.
Verification
- Confirm that the asset runs Cisco Cisco Emergency Responder and falls inside the recorded affected range.
- Verify the installed build against the product-specific fixed version after deployment.
- Validate exposure, authentication requirements and compensating controls in the actual environment.
- Reopen this reassessment when CVSS, KEV, EPSS, exploit evidence or remediation changes.
Remediation availability differs by product scope
Verified remediation exists for at least one product or source, but 10 structured product or package states remain unresolved. Apply remediation only to the exact product branch confirmed by its source.
- Cisco PSIRT: 10 affected or under-investigation product states without a fixed product state in the same current advisory
Direct vendor intelligence
1 currentAuthoritative vendor CSAF and VEX advisories
Structured product status and remediation from the issuing vendor. Product-state explanations are always visible; large lists can be searched or downloaded.
cisco-sa-cucm-kkhZbHR5 · CSAF 2.0 · revision 1.0.0 · finalCisco PSIRTCisco Unified Communications Products Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
The vendor explicitly identifies these products as affected by this CVE.
- Cisco Unified Communications Manager
- Cisco Unity Connection
- Cisco Finesse
- Cisco Unified Intelligence Center
- Cisco Unified Communications Manager IM and Presence Service
- Cisco Emergency Responder
- Cisco Virtualized Voice Browser
- Cisco Prime Collaboration Deployment
- Cisco Unified Contact Center Express
- Cisco SocialMiner
- Summary
- Complete.
- Remediation
- Cisco has released software updates that address this vulnerability.
Medium technical severity with no CISA KEV confirmation; remediate through the normal risk-based patch cycle unless local exposure raises the priority. Verified remediation exists for at least one product or source, but 10 structured product or package states remain unresolved. Apply remediation only to the exact product branch confirmed by its source.
Fix availability varies by product01
What, why and how
A vulnerability in multiple Cisco Unified Communications and Contact Center Solutions products could allow an authenticated, local attacker to elevate privileges to root on an affected device. This vulnerability is due to excessive permissions that have been assigned to system commands. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by executing crafted commands on the underlying operating system. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to escape the restricted shell and gain root privileges on the underlying operating system of an affected device. To successfully exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would need administrative access to the ESXi hypervisor.
What
A vulnerability in multiple Cisco Unified Communications and Contact Center Solutions products could allow an authenticated, local attacker to elevate privileges to root on an affected device. This vulnerability is due to excessive permissions that have been assigned to system commands. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by executing crafted commands on the underlying operating system. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to escape the restricted shell and gain root privileges on the underlying operating system of an affected device. To successfully exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would need administrative access to the ESXi hypervisor.
Why
Two distinct privileges, roles, capabilities, or rights can be combined in a way that allows an entity to perform unsafe actions that would not be allowed without that combination.
How
An attacker operating through local access may attempt exploitation with elevated privileges. If successful, the issue may gain additional privileges.
What
A vulnerability in multiple Cisco Unified Communications and Contact Center Solutions products could allow an authenticated, local attacker to elevate privileges to root on an affected device. This vulnerability is due to excessive permissions that have been assigned to system commands. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by executing crafted commands on the underlying operating system. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to escape the restricted shell and gain root privileges on the underlying operating system of an affected device. To successfully exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would need administrative access to the ESXi hypervisor.
Why
Two distinct privileges, roles, capabilities, or rights can be combined in a way that allows an entity to perform unsafe actions that would not be allowed without that combination.
How
An attacker operating through local access may attempt exploitation with elevated privileges. If successful, the issue may gain additional privileges.
02
Exploit reality and attack path
CVSS severity, EPSS forecast probability, public exploit material and CISA-confirmed exploitation are separate signals.
Observed exploitation No confirmed evidence
?
Confirmed exploitation and public exploit material are separate signals. Attacks can occur without public proof-of-concept or exploit code.No CISA KEV match was present at the last successful refresh. This means no confirmation from that source, not proof of no exploitation.
Public PoC / exploit material None recorded
?
Confirmed exploitation and public exploit material are separate signals. Attacks can occur without public proof-of-concept or exploit code.No exploit-tagged reference or CISA SSVC proof-of-concept state is currently recorded. Research may still exist outside the structured feeds.
- Likely attack path
- local access → Privilege Chaining → gain additional privileges
- Attack surface
- Local
- Privileges required
- High: elevated access is required
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low: no specialised conditions are recorded
- Security boundary
- Unchanged: impact remains within the vulnerable component's security authority
- Weakness
?
CWE means Common Weakness Enumeration: a standard category for the underlying weakness. - CWE-268 ↗
CWE-268: Privilege Chaining. Two distinct privileges, roles, capabilities, or rights can be combined in a way that allows an entity to perform unsafe actions that would not be allowed without that combination.
- CVSS vector
?
CVSS means Common Vulnerability Scoring System. The vector records the metric values used to calculate technical severity. CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:H/A:NCommon Vulnerability Scoring System 3.1: the compact vector below is decoded into plain language.
AVLocalAttack vector: The attacker needs local access to the vulnerable system.ACLowAttack complexity: No specialised conditions are required beyond attacker-controlled input.PRHighPrivileges required: The attacker needs elevated or administrative privileges.UINoneUser interaction: No action by another user is required.SUnchangedScope: The security impact remains within the vulnerable component's authority.CLowConfidentiality impact: A successful attack can cause a limited loss.IHighIntegrity impact: A successful attack can cause a major loss.ANoneAvailability impact: No direct loss is represented by this metric.- Post-exploitation / living off the land
- The issue can support a local privilege or sandbox boundary transition; normal system utilities may then be available in the gained context.
03
Patch and workaround
Operational remediation based on structured source evidence.
- Status
?
Patch availability is based on structured fixed-version fields and authoritative update references. If no fix is verified, check the vendor advisory before making a change. - Fix availability varies by product
- Affected
- Cisco Unified Communications Manager
- Cisco Unity Connection
- Cisco Finesse
- Cisco Unified Intelligence Center
- Cisco Unified Communications Manager IM and Presence Service
- Cisco Emergency Responder
- Cisco Virtualized Voice Browser
- Cisco Prime Collaboration Deployment
- Cisco Unified Contact Center Express
- Cisco SocialMiner
- Action
- Use the product-specific evidence above. Patch only products with a verified fixed release, and keep every affected or under-investigation state without a matching fix in the remediation queue.
- Workaround
- No verified workaround is recorded. Limit untrusted access and use least privilege until authoritative guidance is available.
04
Evidence and provenance
Published 21 May 2025 · Last source change 26 Feb 2026, 18:28 UTC · CWE-268 · Privilege Chaining
CVE recordCVE.org · 5.2
CVSS sourceCNA
EPSS source FIRST · tracked since 2026-08-14
?
The date BlackTree first stored a score for this CVE from the daily FIRST EPSS feed.European sourceENISA EUVD · EUVD-2025-16023
Product sourceVendor CSAF · Cisco PSIRT
Remediation sourceVendor CSAF · Cisco PSIRT
CWE sourceCNA
NVD statusNVD not scheduled
Core structured fields are present and their contributing authorities are shown above.
Material change intelligence
View recent updates ↗What changed after publication
- Remediation statusRemediation status changed from Awaiting fix to Mitigation available.Cisco PSIRT ↗
- Before
- Awaiting fix
- After
- Mitigation available
CVE published
Remediation guidance recorded
Technical terms and abbreviations used in this report
- CVE
- Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures: the public identifier for one disclosed vulnerability.
- CVSS
- Common Vulnerability Scoring System: a technical severity framework; it is not patching priority by itself.
- EPSS
- Exploit Prediction Scoring System: FIRST's estimate of the probability that exploitation activity will be observed in the next 30 days; it is a forecast, not confirmation.
- CWE
- Common Weakness Enumeration: the standard category describing the underlying software or hardware weakness.
- CNA
- CVE Numbering Authority: an organisation authorised to assign and publish CVE records.
- CISA ADP
- Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Authorized Data Publisher: structured enrichment added to a CVE record.
- NVD
- National Vulnerability Database: NIST's enrichment service for CVE records.
- CERT / CSIRT
- A computer security incident response team that publishes warnings or coordinates incident response.
- PoC
- Proof of concept: public material that demonstrates or helps reproduce exploitation.
- CSAF
- Common Security Advisory Framework: a machine-readable format for security advisories.
- LoTL
- Living off the land: abuse of legitimate tools or system functions during an attack.