Remote Privilege Escalation Vulnerability in Cisco Meeting Management
CVE-2025-20156

9.9CRITICAL

Key Information:

Vendor: Cisco
Status: Cisco Meeting Management
Vendor: CVE Published:; 22 January 2025

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What is CVE-2025-20156?

CVE-2025-20156 is a vulnerability found in Cisco Meeting Management, a product designed to facilitate online meetings and collaborative tasks within organizations. This particular vulnerability involves the REST API of the management system, where insufficient authorization controls allow remote, authenticated users with low privileges to escalate their privileges to that of an administrator. If exploited, an attacker could gain inappropriate access to critical functions and settings, jeopardizing the security and integrity of the systems managed by Cisco Meeting Management.

Technical Details

The root cause of CVE-2025-20156 lies in the improper enforcement of authorization checks for users accessing the REST API. Specifically, the vulnerability allows an attacker to send crafted API requests to a certain endpoint without adequate verification of their permissions. By executing these requests, an authenticated user could manipulate the system to elevate their privileges, thus enabling unauthorized administrative actions.

Potential impact of CVE-2025-20156

Unauthorized Administrative Access: Exploitation of this vulnerability could grant attackers the ability to perform any administrative task within the Cisco Meeting Management system, leading to potential misconfigurations, data exposure, or system disruptions.
Data Breach Risk: With elevated privileges, an attacker may access sensitive configuration data and user information, leading to the potential loss or theft of confidential organizational data.
Wider Network Compromise: By gaining administrative control, attackers can manipulate the settings of edge nodes and potentially pivot to other systems within the network, expanding the scope of an attack and increasing overall threat exposure.