Threats / Cisco / CVE-2024-20399
CVE-2024-20399
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-08-04
Cisco NX-OS vulnerability
Cisco NX-OS contains a command injection vulnerability in the CLI that allows authenticated local attackers to execute arbitrary commands as root on affected devices.
Verdict
Today item — known-exploited.
An authenticated local attacker can inject OS commands through the NX-OS CLI to achieve root-level code execution on the underlying operating system. This vulnerability is being exploited in the wild.
CISA KEV Yes · 2024-07-025EPSS 0.04271 (verify live)6CVSS 63CISA SSVC Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Impact: total4
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreReported exploitation
16 independent public reports of in-the-wild exploitation are cataloged.Distinct reporting sources (vendor, incident response, government); open them for the underlying claims.
Exploited in the wild
Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2024-07-02).
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.04271 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
CVSS 6 (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N) · Affected: Cisco, NX-OS. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.CVSS — CNA-assigned (CVE.org), version 3.1, set at disclosure.
Weakness (CWE)
Mapped to CWE-78 OS Command Injection — weakness family: Injection.CWE — CNA-assigned (CVE.org); the weakness class drives how the flaw is exploited.
CISA SSVC (triage disposition)
Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Technical Impact: totalCISA's own stakeholder-specific triage inputs, published in the CVE record (CISA Coordinator role). NOTE: this is CISA's three decision points; the final Act/Attend/Track decision also requires a Mission & Well-being input not published here, so no overall decision is asserted.
Currency of the record
CISA added this to its KEV catalog 1 day after the CVE record was published.KEV lag = CISA-KEV dateAdded − CVE.org datePublished; a floor on how long the known-exploited flaw sat in the public record before the federal catalog listed it. Severity/weakness here is CNA- or CISA-assigned (current at disclosure), independent of NVD's analysis backlog.
02
Who’s exploiting it?
— attribution turns risk into urgencyAttribution not established
No confirmed (advisory-backed) threat-actor attribution is established for this record. Absence of a named actor is not absence of compromise — see Coverage & confidence.
03
Why it matters
— the attack path, told twice: adversary, then board1
Front door — unauthenticated access narrative 1
Attacker
I gain local CLI access to an NX-OS device using valid credentials.
Business
An insider or compromised account holder can access the device management interface.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I craft a malicious CLI command that injects shell metacharacters to break out of the intended command context.
Business
Input validation failures in the CLI parser allow unintended command execution paths.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
I execute arbitrary OS commands with root privileges on the device's underlying operating system.
Business
The attacker gains complete control of the network device, enabling data exfiltration, lateral movement, or infrastructure sabotage.
04
What to do
— defensible action- Remediate per the vendor advisory — confirm the fixed build for your version and verify exposure.1
Say it to the boardA vulnerability with this evidence profile is a defensible budget line, not a backlog ticket — fund the change against the proof above.
05