CVE-2020-3531· NVD / CVE Program· CNA cisco

Cisco IoT Field Network Director Unauthenticated REST API Vulnerability

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Plan (action score 40/100)

The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 2.2% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 82.1% of all records.
Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it. No account or password is required. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
According to CISA the attack is automatable: targets can be found by mass scanning.
According to the record, no fixed version is available yet.

Add it to your regular patch cycle. Update when a fix is released; follow the vendor's advisory.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS

A vulnerability in the REST API of Cisco IoT Field Network Director (FND) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to access the back-end database of an affected system. The vulnerability exists because the affected software does not properly authenticate REST API calls. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by obtaining a cross-site request forgery (CSRF) token and then using the token with REST API requests. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to access the back-end database of the affected device and read, alter, or drop information.

CriticalCVSS 9.8 · v3.1—No exploit No fix recorded

BDU:2020-05485

Published: Nov 18, 2020
Updated: Jun 16, 2026
EPSS: 2.2% · 82th percentile
CWE: CWE-306

Report tools

JSON

Action score

Plan

Add it to your regular patch cycle.

CVSS: 39 / 40 · 9.8 / 10
CISA KEV: 0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS: 1 / 30 · 2.2%

CISA SSVC decision

Exploitation: none
Automatable: yes
Technical impact: total

Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.

CNA vs NVD score

NVD: 9.8
CNA · cisco: 9.8; agree

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.

Get told when this record changes

Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
No public exploit code on record
No fixed version yet

If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.

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Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

Vendor	Product	CPE
cisco	iot field network director	cpe:2.3:a:cisco:iot_field_network_director

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

cisco iot field network directorbefore 4.6.1

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (cisco). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

Cisco Cisco IoT Field Network Director (IoT-FND)
- n/aaffected

Same product

cisco: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

CVE-2020-26075Cisco IoT Field Network REST API Insufficient Input Validation Vulnerability
35Monitor
CVE-2018-0270A vulnerability in the web-based management interface of Cisco IoT Field Network Director (IoT-FND) could allow an unauthenticated, remote a
35Monitor
CVE-2020-26072Cisco IoT Field Network Director SOAP API Authorization Bypass Vulnerability
34Monitor
CVE-2020-3162Cisco IoT Field Network Director Denial of Service Vulnerability
31Monitor
CVE-2019-1957Cisco IoT Field Network Director TLS Renegotiation Denial of Service Vulnerability
31Monitor
CVE-2019-1644Cisco IoT Field Network Director Resource Exhaustion Denial of Service Vulnerability
31Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

No fix version is recorded for this entry. Check the references for vendor advisories.

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

No dated events beyond publication.

EPSS, last 120 days

FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

No commit or PR link among the references.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

No credits in the CNA record.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

—

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

CVE-2020-260750 days apartCisco IoT Field Network REST API Insufficient Input Validation Vulnerability
35Monitor
CVE-2020-260780 days apartCisco IoT Field Network Director File Overwrite Vulnerability
26Monitor

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

Technical details

Attack conditions

Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
No account or password is required.
No user action is required.
No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality: high · data can be read
Integrity: high · data or configuration can be modified
Availability: high · the service can be disrupted

Attack vector: Network
Attack complexity: Low
Privileges required: None
User interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality impact: High
Integrity impact: High
Availability impact: High

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-306 · Missing Authentication for Critical Function

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

nvd-primary

Root cause

A function added for development or support ships to production without authentication. It often relies on the assumption that it is “only reachable from the internal network.”

The bug in code

The whole CWE-306 class

A representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.

Vulnerable

1// Added for the support team2app.post("/maintenance/reset", resetDevice);

Fixed

1if (config.maintenanceEnabled) {2  app.post(3    "/maintenance/reset",4    requireSession, requireRole("admin"), resetDevice5  );6}

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

Attack patterns (CAPEC)

ATT&CK techniques

—

Change log

No changes recorded on tracked fields yet. Score, KEV, exploit maturity and fix status changes appear here.

References

tools.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-FND-BCK-GHkPNZ5F

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records