The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has revealed that threat actors are exploiting an outdated Cisco Smart Install (SMI) function for the purpose of accessing confidential data.
Agency said he saw adversaries “obtaining system configuration files using available protocols or software on devices, such as by abusing Cisco’s legacy Smart Install feature.”
It also said it continues to monitor weak password types used on Cisco network devices, thereby exposing them to password cracking attacks. Password types refer to the algorithms used to protect the Cisco device password in the system configuration file.
Threat actors who can gain access to the device in this way will be able to easily access the system’s configuration files, facilitating a deeper breach of the victim’s networks.
“Organisations should ensure that all passwords on network devices are stored using an adequate level of protection,” CISA said, adding that it recommends “password type 8 security of all Cisco devices to protect passwords in configuration files”.
It also urges businesses to reconsider the National Security Agency (NSA) Recommendations for abuse of the smart installation protocol and Network Infrastructure Security Guide for configuration instructions.
Additional best practices include using a strong hashing algorithm to store passwords, avoiding password reuse, assigning strong and complex passwords, and not using group accounts that do not provide accountability.
The development is going as Cisco warned public availability of proof-of-concept (PoC) code for CVE-2024-20419 (CVSS Score: 10.0), a critical flaw affecting Smart Software Manager On-Prem (Cisco SSM On-Prem), which could allow a remote, unauthenticated attacker to change any user’s password.
The network specialist also warned of multiple critical vulnerabilities (CVE-2024-20450, CVE-2024-20452, and CVE-2024-20454, CVSS score: 9.8) in the SPA300 and SPA500 series IP phones for small businesses that could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system or cause a denial of service (DoS) condition.
“These vulnerabilities exist because incoming HTTP packets are not properly checked for errors, which could lead to buffer overflows,” Cisco said. said in the bulletin published on August 7, 2024.
“An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted HTTP request to a compromised device. A successful exploit could allow an attacker to overflow an internal buffer and execute arbitrary commands with root privileges.”
The company said it has no intention of releasing software updates to address the flaws as the devices have reached end-of-life (EoL) status, requiring users to upgrade to newer models.
