Serious and easily exploited flaws in older Cisco IOS software. Commonly used, but old, switches used for Campus and SME Data Centres. Serious problem.
Thoughts:
- Demonstrates how older Cisco devices are fundamentally insecure.
- Cisco wasn’t focussed on security back then. They were happy if it even worked properly.
- Cisco was slow to adopt SSH in IOS because customers weren’t asking for it. Microsoft should shoulder a lot of blame for not including an SSH client and we slowed operational adoption 1 (seriously, getting putty installed in many enterprises was a major problem)
- Cisco has responded promptly and professionally to offer fix.
- Customers should replace most of this kit, not fix it. You can expect many more security flaws in these NOS’s because security was a minor design issue for Cisco at that time.
The Cluster Management Protocol utilizes Telnet internally as a signaling and command protocol between cluster members. The vulnerability is due to the combination of two factors
- The failure to restrict the use of CMP-specific Telnet options only to internal, local communications between cluster members and instead accept and process such options over any Telnet connection to an affected device, and
- The incorrect processing of malformed CMP-specific Telnet options.
Cisco IOS and IOS XE Software Cluster Management Protocol Remote Code Execution Vulnerability : https://tools.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-20170317-cmp
- seriously, getting putty installed in many enterprises was a major problem ↩
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