CVE-2022-20859 | Cisco Unified Communications Products Access Control Vulnerability

A vulnerability in the Disaster Recovery framework of Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Unified CM), Cisco Unified Communications Manager IM & Presence Service (Unified CM IM&P), and Cisco Unity Connection could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to perform certain administrative actions they should not be able to. This vulnerability is due to insufficient access control checks on the affected device. An attacker with read-only privileges could exploit this vulnerability by executing a specific vulnerable command on an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to perform a set of administrative actions they should not be able to.

Published: 2022-07-06 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2022-20859 is rated Moderate Risk (55.2/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.64%). Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2022-20859

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2025-11-21 0.92% 1.64% +0.73%
2 2025-11-18 1.64% 0.92% -0.73%
3 2025-09-08 — 1.64% —

Full EPSS history (14 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2022-20859

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 2.8 3.6 [email protected]
8.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 2.8 5.9 [email protected]
9.0 2.0 HIGH
AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:C/I:C/A:C Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:S)
A single authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:C)
Complete confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:C)
Complete integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
 8.0 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2022-20859

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2022-20859

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
cisco unified_communications_manager >= 14.0, < 14su2 cpe:2.3:a:cisco:unified_communications_manager:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco unified_communications_manager_im_and_presence_service >= 14.0, < 14.0su2 cpe:2.3:a:cisco:unified_communications_manager_im_and_presence_service:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cisco unity_connection >= 14.0, < 14su2 cpe:2.3:a:cisco:unity_connection:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2022-20859

cvelogic Threat Intelligence