Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This flaw could let someone with rescue-user access on Cisco Nexus Dashboard become root. It is not described as remotely exploitable from the internet, but root access on this platform can create serious control-plane and operational risk.
Executive priority
Treat as a controlled but meaningful infrastructure risk. Prioritize remediation for production Nexus Dashboard systems, especially where rescue-user access is broadly held or poorly audited.
Technical view
CVE-2022-20907 covers Cisco Nexus Dashboard privilege escalation through vulnerable CLI command execution after rescue-user authentication. The bundle cites insufficient input validation and CVSS 3.1 score 6.0, with high confidentiality and integrity impact but local access and high privileges required.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely where Cisco Nexus Dashboard is deployed and rescue-user credentials are enabled, shared, weakly governed, or available to operators beyond emergency use.
Exploitation context
The bundle does not show CISA KEV status or evidence of active exploitation. Exploitation requires authenticated local access as rescue-user and execution of vulnerable CLI commands; no public exploit status is provided.
Researcher notes
The source bundle lists CWE-367 while the description emphasizes insufficient input validation during CLI command execution. Rely on Cisco’s advisory for exact affected releases, fixes, and root-cause details before writing detection logic.
Mitigation direction
- Check Cisco’s advisory for affected and fixed Nexus Dashboard releases.
- Apply Cisco-provided software updates or workarounds when confirmed applicable.
- Restrict rescue-user access to emergency administrators only.
- Rotate and vault rescue-user credentials where operationally feasible.
- Review logs for unexpected rescue-user CLI activity.
Validation and detection
- Inventory all Cisco Nexus Dashboard instances and versions.
- Compare installed versions against Cisco’s advisory.
- Confirm who can authenticate as rescue-user on each appliance.
- Verify remediation status after any update or workaround.
- Review recent rescue-user logins and CLI command history.
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-367: 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 lookupPrivilege behavior lookup
The CVE wording references privilege impact, so privilege escalation and authorization behavior review may help. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2022-20907 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
- Medium
- CVSS
- 6 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/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:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N0.85.2Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
6MediumVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- 20220720 Cisco Nexus Dashboard Privilege Escalation VulnerabilitiesCVE 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.
Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) Race Condition
Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) Race Condition represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.