Cyber Resilience

CVE-2024-20348

Path Traversal in Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller 12.1.3 … 12.1.3b

Published
03 April 2024
Modified
17 June 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0080 53th percentile
Risk Priority 59 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2024-20348 is a high-severity Path Traversal: 'dir/../../filename' (CWE-27) vulnerability in Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked in the top 47% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A vulnerability in the Out-of-Band (OOB) Plug and Play (PnP) feature of Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (NDFC) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to read arbitrary files. This vulnerability is due to an unauthenticated provisioning web server. An attacker…

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could exploit this vulnerability through direct web requests to the provisioning server. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to read sensitive files in the PnP container that could facilitate further attacks on the PnP infrastructure.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2024-20449Same product: Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller
CVE-2023-20129Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2020-3187Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2015-0666Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2023-20090Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2025-20344Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2026-20148Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2024-20532Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2026-20180Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2024-20527Same vendor: Cisco

Affected Assets

cisco
nexus dashboard fabric controller
12.1.3, 12.1.3b

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V5.3.2

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Enforces the intended directory access authorizations that path traversal would otherwise bypass.

Input validation directly neutralizes special path elements before pathname construction occurs.

Least privilege reduces the impact of any unauthorized file access obtained via traversal.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly require input validation and path sanitization that prevent directory traversal flaws.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability identification processes will discover path traversal weaknesses during code or configuration review.

PR.AA-05 partial match
prevents

Least-privilege file permissions and access enforcement can limit the damage from a successful traversal.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Patching/maintenance can remediate known path-traversal flaws in deployed software (partial prevention of exploitability) but does nothing to stop the coding defect from being introduced in the first place.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

prevents

Secure coding standards require neutralizing '../' sequences and using safe file APIs, eliminating this exact weakness.

finds

Security testing in development catches path-traversal flaws before release but does not itself implement the control.

prevents

Secure development lifecycle mandates input validation and path sanitization that directly prevents directory traversal.

prevents

Application security requirements include explicit rules for safe file-path handling and canonicalization.

prevents

Secure architecture principles discourage unsafe path construction but do not prescribe the specific coding fix.

mitigates

Information access restriction can limit which files are reachable, reducing impact but not preventing the traversal vector.

References