Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
Cisco Nexus Dashboard may trust an impersonated controller because it does not validate SSL/TLS server certificates for controller connections. An attacker already positioned to intercept that traffic could read sensitive data or alter communications, including possible administrator credentials for APIC, Cloud APIC, or Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller/DCNM.
Executive priority
Treat as a high-priority data-center management-plane issue where Nexus Dashboard controls critical fabrics. Urgency is highest if untrusted networks, shared segments, or weak internal segmentation exist between Nexus Dashboard and controllers.
Technical view
CWE-295 certificate validation failure in Cisco Nexus Dashboard controller connections. CVSS 3.1 score is 7.4 high: network reachable, no privileges or user interaction, high confidentiality and integrity impact, but high attack complexity and no availability impact.
Likely exposure
Exposure is likely limited to environments running Cisco Nexus Dashboard integrated with APIC, Cloud APIC, or Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller/DCNM. The bundle does not provide affected version ranges, so teams must confirm applicability against Cisco guidance.
Exploitation context
The described attack requires a man-in-the-middle position between Nexus Dashboard and associated controllers plus a crafted certificate. The source bundle marks CISA KEV as false and provides no evidence of active exploitation.
Researcher notes
The bundle supports certificate validation failure, unauthenticated remote MITM requirement, and potential credential exposure. It does not include affected version granularity, fixed versions, exploit maturity, or public proof-of-concept status, so avoid broader claims without Cisco advisory confirmation.
Mitigation direction
- Review Cisco advisory cisco-sa-nd-tlsvld-TbAQLp3N for affected releases and fixes.
- Prioritize upgrades or workarounds exactly as Cisco documents them.
- Restrict and monitor network paths between Nexus Dashboard and controllers.
- Protect administrator credentials that may traverse affected controller connections.
- Assess whether certificate validation or trust settings changed after remediation.
Validation and detection
- Inventory Cisco Nexus Dashboard deployments and associated controller integrations.
- Map Nexus Dashboard-to-controller traffic paths for possible interception points.
- Compare deployed versions against the Cisco advisory applicability details.
- Review logs for unexpected controller identity, certificate, or connection anomalies.
- Confirm remediation status through vendor-supported version or configuration evidence.
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
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-295: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. 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-2022-20860 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- High
- CVSS
- 7.4 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N2.25.2Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
7.4HighVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- 20220720 Cisco Nexus Dashboard SSL Certificate Validation 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.
Improper Certificate Validation
Improper Certificate Validation represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.