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CISA adds Cisco IOS XE flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

criticalExploit / PoC exploited in the wildimportance 60CVE-2021-1435CVE-2023-20198

Vulnerabilities mentionedAll →

CVEVulnerabilityCVSSEPSSFlagsAffectedExposurePublished
CVE-2021-1435
A vulnerability in the web UI of Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to inject arbitrary commands that can be executed as the ro

A vulnerability in the web UI of Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to inject arbitrary commands that can be executed as the root user. This vulnerability is due to insufficient input validation. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted request to the web UI of an affected device with arbitrary commands injected into a portion of the request. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands as the root user.

NVD description · AI analysis pending
7.28%
  • cisco ios xe
CVE-2023-20198
Unauthenticated Privilege Escalation in Cisco IOS XE Web UI (Actively Exploited)

CVE-2023-20198 is a critical (CVSS 10.0) unauthenticated privilege escalation flaw in the web UI of Cisco IOS XE software, triggered by sending crafted network requests to the exposed web management interface. An attacker with no credentials can use the flaw to gain initial access and issue a privilege 15 command, creating a local user with normal login access; the attacker then chained CVE-2023-20273 (CVSS 7.2) to elevate that account to root and write an implant to the file system. Successful exploitation yields full administrative control of the device, including persistence via the planted implant, on Cisco IOS XE devices with the web UI enabled and reachable from the internet or untrusted networks, including Rockwell Automation Allen-Bradley Stratix 5200 and 5800 switches running IOS XE. Exploitation is confirmed in the wild: the flaw was added to CISA's KEV on 2023-10-16 with a BOD 23-02 directive, EPSS stands at 99.6% (100th percentile), and ongoing campaigns (including the 'BADCANDY' activity flagged by Australia's ASD and Cisco-related telecom intrusions attributed to Salt Typhoon) have been reported.

Do: Upgrade affected devices to the fixed releases listed in Cisco's advisory (use Cisco's Software Checker) and, as immediate mitigation, disable the web UI or restrict it to trusted networks/addresses only. Check for compromise by looking for unexpected local user accounts and the implant artifacts Cisco identified (unexpected cisco_tac_alarm.log and cisco_tac.log files in /tmp or /usr/binos/conf), and immediately report positive findings to CISA per BOD 23-02. Keep in mind that patching alone does not remove a root implant, so devices with evidence of compromise should be reimaged or otherwise cleaned per vendor instructions.

10.0100% KEV
  • Cisco IOS XE (Web UI feature)
  • Rockwell Automation Allen-Bradley Stratix 5200 firmware
  • Rockwell Automation Allen-Bradley Stratix 5800 firmware
large≈40,000–50,000 internet-exposed IOS XE devices at the time of disclosure (public scan data), within an IOS XE install base in the millions
Full article397 words · extracted from securityaffairs.com · click to collapse

US CISA added the vulnerability CVE-2021-1435 in Cisco IOS XE to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) added the vulnerability CVE-2021-1435 in Cisco IOS XE to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.

The vulnerability is a command injection vulnerability in the web user interface that could allow a remote, authenticated attacker to inject commands that can be executed as the root user.

Cisco Talos researchers warned of active exploitation of this vulnerability to infect the devices.

“Leveraging existing detections, we observed the actor exploiting CVE-2021-1435, for which Cisco provided a patch in 2021, to install the implant after gaining access to the device.” reads the report published by Cisco Talos. “We have also seen devices fully patched against CVE-2021-1435 getting the implant successfully installed through an as of yet undetermined mechanism.”

According to Binding Operational Directive (BOD) 22-01: Reducing the Significant Risk of Known Exploited Vulnerabilities, FCEB agencies have to address the identified vulnerabilities by the due date to protect their networks against attacks exploiting the flaws in the catalog.

Experts recommend also private organizations review the Catalog and address the vulnerabilities in their infrastructure.

CISA orders federal agencies to fix this flaw by November 9, 2023.

Recently another Cisco IOS XE vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2023-20198, made the headlines.

Cisco this week warned customers of a zero-day vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2023-20198 (CVSS score 10), in its IOS XE Software that is actively exploited in attacks. The IT giant found the vulnerability during the resolution of multiple Technical Assistance Center (TAC) support cases.

Threat actors have exploited the recently disclosed critical zero-day vulnerability (CVE-2023-20198) to compromise thousands of Cisco IOS XE devices, security firm VulnCheck warned.

The vulnerability can be exploited by an attacker to gain administrator privileges and take over vulnerable routers.

The advisory published by the vendor states that the exploitation of the vulnerability allows a remote, unauthenticated attacker to create an account on an affected system with privilege level 15 access.

Researchers from LeakIX used the indicators of compromise (IOCs) released by Cisco Talos and found around 30k Cisco IOS XE devices (routers, switches, VPNs) that were infected by exploiting the CVE-2023-20198. Most of the infected devices were in the United States, the Philippines, Chile, and Mexico.

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, CISA)



Text extracted automatically; images, tables and formatting may be missing. Original: https://securityaffairs.com/152763/hacking/cisa-adds-cisco-ios-xe-flaw-known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog.html