# CVE-2025-20278: Cisco Unified Communications Products Command Injection Vulnerability

> Authenticated local attackers with admin credentials can execute arbitrary root commands via improper CLI argument validation in Cisco Unified Communications products.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.0 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 4 Jun 2025
- **Updated:** 26 Feb 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-qvpj-hmr8-j79p

## What is CVE-2025-20278?

CVE-2025-20278 is a medium-severity command injection vulnerability in Cisco Unified Communications Manager, published on 4 Jun 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability in the CLI of multiple Cisco Unified Communications products could allow an authenticated, local attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system of an affected device as the root user.

This vulnerability is due to improper validation of user-supplied command arguments. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by executing crafted commands on the CLI of an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system of an affected device as the root user. To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker must have valid administrative credentials.

Weakness: CWE-77 (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in a Command)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-20278?

It affects 8 products.


Products: Cisco Finesse, Cisco Socialminer, Cisco Unified Communications Manager, Cisco Unified Communications Manager Im and Presence Service, Cisco Unified Contact Center Express, Cisco Unified Intelligence Center, Cisco Unity Connection, Cisco Virtualized Voice Browser.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-20278?

No fix has been published for CVE-2025-20278 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2025-20278 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-20278 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Cisco Unified Communications Manager

- [CVE-2018-0398](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-0398/): Server-side request forgery in Cisco Finesse unknown (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2018-0399](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-0399/): Information disclosure in Cisco Finesse unknown (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2016-6442](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-6442/): Cross-site request forgery in Cisco Finesse 11.0(1) (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2016-1373](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-1373/): Server-side request forgery in n/a (high 8.6)
- [CVE-2015-0754](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-0754/): Denial of service in n/a (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-20278 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-20278 is a medium-severity command injection vulnerability in Cisco Unified Communications Manager, published on 4 Jun 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-20278 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Cisco Unified Communications Manager. 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-2025-20278/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-20278/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-20278
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-20278
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-20278

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-20278/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.