Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
Cisco DCNM’s web management interface can be abused for cross-site scripting. A successful attack could run script in an administrator’s browser session or read browser-accessible information. The public evidence rates this medium severity and shows no KEV-listed exploitation, but management interfaces deserve prompt attention.
Executive priority
Treat this as a standard-priority management-plane vulnerability. Escalate if DCNM is internet-accessible, reachable by broad internal networks, or used by highly privileged administrators from untrusted locations.
Technical view
CVE-2020-3460 is a CWE-79 XSS issue in Cisco Data Center Network Manager’s web-based management interface. Cisco attributes it to insufficient validation of user-supplied input. Exploitation is remote and unauthenticated, but requires user interaction and high attack complexity involving malicious data injected into an HTTP header.
Likely exposure
Exposure is limited to environments running Cisco Data Center Network Manager with its web interface accessible to users. Risk increases where the interface is reachable from untrusted networks or administrator web traffic can be intercepted.
Exploitation context
The supplied sources do not report active exploitation, and the CVE is not marked as CISA KEV. Exploitation requires a user of the interface and request interception, limiting broad automated abuse but still creating risk to privileged browser sessions.
Researcher notes
The evidence supports XSS through HTTP header input handling in the DCNM web interface. The bundle does not include fixed version details or exploit artifacts. Avoid assuming affected versions beyond Cisco’s advisory and validate exposure through inventory, access paths, and vendor version mapping.
Mitigation direction
- Check Cisco’s advisory for affected and fixed DCNM releases.
- Upgrade or remediate according to Cisco’s published guidance.
- Restrict DCNM management interface access to trusted admin networks.
- Use TLS and trusted network paths for management access.
- Review administrative access patterns for unnecessary external exposure.
Validation and detection
- Inventory all Cisco DCNM deployments and exposed management interfaces.
- Compare running DCNM versions against Cisco’s advisory.
- Confirm management UI access is restricted to approved administrators.
- Review security monitoring for suspicious web-header or XSS indicators.
- Document remediation status and any vendor-guidance exceptions.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
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CWE-79: User-session and phishing behavior lookup
Client-side and session-facing weaknesses should be reviewed alongside initial-access and user-execution behaviors. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2020-3460 mapping review
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Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Medium
- CVSS
- 4.7 (3.0)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N1.62.7Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.0 score
4.7MediumVector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- 20200729 Cisco Data Center Network Manager Cross-Site Scripting VulnerabilityCVE reference · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_CISCO
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.