# CVE-2022-20860: Cisco Nexus Dashboard SSL Certificate Validation Vulnerability

> An attacker can perform man-in-the-middle attacks to intercept traffic and view sensitive administrator credentials due to missing SSL certificate validation.

- **Severity:** High 7.4 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 21 Jul 2022
- **Updated:** 1 Nov 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-xrg3-35mw-8rhg

## What is CVE-2022-20860?

CVE-2022-20860 is a high-severity vulnerability in Cisco Nexus Dashboard, published on 21 Jul 2022. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability in the SSL/TLS implementation of Cisco Nexus Dashboard could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to alter communications with associated controllers or view sensitive information. This vulnerability exists because SSL server certificates are not validated when Cisco Nexus Dashboard is establishing a connection to Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC), Cisco Cloud APIC, or Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller, formerly Data Center Network Manager (DCNM) controllers. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by using man-in-the-middle techniques to intercept the traffic between the affected device and the controllers, and then using a crafted certificate to impersonate the controllers. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to alter communications between devices or view sensitive information, including Administrator credentials for these controllers.

Weakness: CWE-295 (Improper Certificate Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-20860?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Cisco Nexus Dashboard.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-20860?

No fix has been published for CVE-2022-20860 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2022-20860 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-20860 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Cisco Nexus Dashboard

- [CVE-2022-20857](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-20857/): Cisco Nexus Dashboard Unauthorized Access Vulnerabilities (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2022-20858](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-20858/): Cisco Nexus Dashboard Unauthorized Access Vulnerabilities (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2022-20861](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-20861/): Cisco Nexus Dashboard Unauthorized Access Vulnerabilities (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2025-20163](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-20163/): Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller SSH Host Key Vulnerability (high 8.7)
- [CVE-2024-20281](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-20281/): Cross-site request forgery in Cisco Data Center Network Manager (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2022-20860 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-20860 is a high-severity vulnerability in Cisco Nexus Dashboard, published on 21 Jul 2022. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-20860 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Cisco Nexus Dashboard. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-20860/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-20860/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-20860
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-20860
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-20860

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-20860/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.