Background exploitation KEV catalog No authentication
CVE-2020-3161

Cisco IP Phones Web Server Remote Code Execution and Denial-of-Service Vulnerability

A vulnerability in the web server for Cisco IP Phones could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to execute code with root privileges or cause a reload of an affected IP phone, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition. The…

CheckOps priority index
8.8/10 Patch within 24 h
Severity9.8
Probability8.4
Exploitation4/5

Severity = CVSS. Probability = EPSS (FIRST). Exploitation = public signals: KEV, EUVD, ransomware, EPSS above 10 %, no account required.

EPSS · today 83.9% higher than 99.7% of CVEs
CVSS 3.0 9.8 AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:
Exploited for 1,826 days 03 Nov 2021
CISA due date 03 May 2022 for US federal agencies

Exploitation probability EPSS · FIRST

05010026 Sep05 Oct15 Oct24 Oct02 Nov
EPSS probability (%)Percentile among all CVEs

Exploitation signals 4 / 5

  • KEV catalog (CISA)03 Nov 2021
  • Exploited in EUVD (ENISA)03 Nov 2021
  • Used by ransomwareno
  • EPSS above 10 %83.9%
  • No account, over the networkyes

What to do

Fix

Apply the vendor’s fix as soon as it is available.

CISA guidance: Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Meanwhile

Take the service off the internet or restrict access to it, watch the logs and look for signs of compromise.

Manufacturers (CRA)

Exploited vulnerability in your product: early warning to ENISA within 24 h, then notification within 72 h (Article 14 of the Cyber Resilience Act). The CRA explained

Description ENISA EUVD

A vulnerability in the web server for Cisco IP Phones could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to execute code with root privileges or cause a reload of an affected IP phone, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition. The vulnerability is due to a lack of proper input validation of HTTP requests. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted HTTP request to the web server of a targeted device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to remotely execute code with root privileges or cause a reload of an affected IP phone, resulting in a DoS condition.

Affected products

Cisco IP phoneCisco IP Phones
Weaknesses (CWE)

Open source packages OSV

Affected libraries according to OSV, with fixed versions.

Timeline

  1. Published

  2. Exploitation reported (ENISA)

  3. Added to the KEV catalog

  4. CISA remediation due date

  5. EPSS peak: 83.9%

References

Other exploited vulnerabilities from the same vendor

  • CVE-2026-76418Cisco Secure Firewall ASA Software and Cisco Secure FTD Software Unchecked Return Value to NULL Pointer Dereference Vulnerability
    5.3 · Rising fast
  • CVE-2026-76519Cisco Secure Email Gateway Relative Path Traversal Vulnerability
    5.8 · Rising fast
  • CVE-2026-76504Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Manager Hex Encoding Vulnerability
    7.5 · Actively exploited
  • CVE-2026-76460Cisco Identity Services Engine Incorrect Use of Privileged APIs Vulnerability
    8.7 · Actively exploited
  • CVE-2026-76461Cisco Secure Email Gateway SQL Injection Vulnerability
    7.2 · Actively exploited
  • CVE-2026-20079Cisco Firewall Management Center Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel Vulnerability
    9.1 · Actively exploited

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Sources: CISA KEV · ENISA EUVD · FIRST EPSS · OSV. Public data aggregated by CheckOps, updated automatically. Source texts remain the property of their authors. All exploited vulnerabilities