[c-nsp] Cisco Security Advisory: Cisco IPS MC Malformed
Configuration Download Vulnerability
Cisco Systems Product Security Incident Response Team
psirt at cisco.com
Tue Nov 1 16:50:22 EST 2005
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Cisco Security Advisory:
========================
Cisco IPS MC Malformed Configuration Download Vulnerability
===========================================================
Document ID: 68065
Revision 1.0
Last Updated
For Public Release 2005 November 1 2000 UTC (GMT)
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Contents
========
Summary
Affected Products
Details
Impact
Software Versions and Fixes
Obtaining Fixed Software
Workarounds
Exploitation and Public Announcements
Status of This Notice: FINAL
Distribution
Revision History
Cisco Security Procedures
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
=======
The CiscoWorks VPN/Security Management Solution (VMS) is a network
management application that includes Web-based tools for configuring,
monitoring, and troubleshooting VPNs, firewalls, network intrusion
detection systems (NIDSs), network intrusion prevention systems (NIPSs)
and host intrusion prevention systems (HIPSs). CiscoWorks VMS also
includes network device inventory, change audit, and software
distribution features.
An issue exists in one of the components of the Cisco Management Center
for IPS Sensors (IPS MC) v2.1 during the generation of the Cisco IOS
IPS (Intrusion Prevention System) configuration file that may result in
some signatures belonging to certain classes being disabled during the
configuration deployment process.
Cisco has made a free software patch available to address this
vulnerability for affected customers.
This advisory is posted at
http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/707/cisco-sa-20051101-ipsmc.shtml.
Affected Products
=================
Vulnerable Products
+------------------
* Cisco IOS IPS devices that have been configured by IPS MC v2.1.
Products Confirmed Not Vulnerable
+--------------------------------
* Cisco IOS IPS devices that have NOT been configured by IPS MC v2.1.
This category includes Cisco IOS IPS devices that have been
configured by using any of the following methods:
+ Cisco IDS MC (Management Center for IDS Sensors)
+ Cisco SDM (Security Device Manager)
+ Cisco IOS CLI (Command Line Interface)
* Any other Cisco IDS/IPS solution, configured by either Cisco IPS MC
v2.1, Cisco IDS MC (any version), Cisco SDM (any version) or by
using the Cisco IOS CLI. These include:
+ Cisco IOS IDS
+ Cisco PIX/ASA IDS
+ Cisco IPS 4200 Series Sensors
+ Cisco Catalyst 6500/7600 Series Intrusion Detection System
(IDSM-2) Module
+ Cisco IDS Network Module (NM-CIDS-K9)
+ Cisco ASA Advanced Inspection and Prevention (AIP) Security
Services Module
No other Cisco products are currently known to be affected by these
vulnerabilities.
Details
=======
Some Cisco routers running Cisco IOS include a feature called Cisco IOS
IPS. The Cisco IOS IPS acts as an in-line intrusion protection sensor,
watching packets and sessions as they flow through the router and
scanning each packet to match any of the Cisco IOS IPS signatures that
have been enabled on the device configuration. When it detects
suspicious activity, it responds before network security can be
compromised and logs the event through Cisco IOS syslog messages or
Security Device Event Exchange (SDEE). The network administrator can
configure Cisco IOS IPS to choose the appropriate response to various
threats.
Customers can use multiple methods, including Cisco IPS MC, Cisco IDS
MC, Cisco SDM and the Cisco IOS CLI, to enable, disable and configure
Cisco IOS IPS signatures. Some signatures dealing with TCP or UDP
traffic analyze traffic destined to specific ports. Those ports are
pre-configured with default values, and some signatures might allow
changes to the list of ports to be monitored.
If the Cisco IOS IPS devices have been configured by using the Cisco
IPS MC v2.1, the Cisco IPS MC might download a configuration file to
the device that does not contain a value for the port field in one or
more signatures, resulting in the affected Cisco IOS IPS device
disabling those signatures. Only signatures using either the STRING.TCP
or STRING.UDP signature micro-engine (SME) are affected by this
vulnerability. Additionally, this behavior only happens if those
signatures were enabled and configured from the Cisco IPS MC GUI ;
signatures belonging to the STRING.TCP or STRING.UDP SMEs that were
previously configured on the device and imported into the Cisco IPS MC
will not experience this issue.
The list of signatures currently loaded into a Cisco IOS IPS device and
their status can be obtained by executing the "show ip ips signatures"
command. The following abbreviated output shows signatures currently
loaded into the device, both enabled and disabled:
Router#show ip ips signatures
Builtin signatures are configured
Signatures were last loaded from flash:128MB.sdf
Cisco SDF release version 128MB.sdf v4
Trend SDF release version V0.0
*=Marked for Deletion Action=(A)larm,(D)rop,(R)eset Trait=AlarmTraits
MH=MinHits AI=AlarmInterval CT=ChokeThreshold
TI=ThrottleInterval AT=AlarmThrottle FA=FlipAddr
WF=WantFrag
Signature Micro-Engine: OTHER (4 sigs)
SigID:SubID On Action Sev Trait MH AI CT TI AT FA WF Version
----------- -- ------ ---- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -- -- -- -------
1201:0 Y A HIGH 0 0 0 30 15 FA N N 2.2.1.5
1202:0 Y A HIGH 0 0 0 100 15 FA N N 2.2.1.5
1203:0 Y A HIGH 0 0 0 30 15 FA N N 2.2.1.5
3050:0 Y A HIGH 0 0 0 0 15 FA N 1.0
Signature Micro-Engine: STRING.ICMP (1 sigs)
SigID:SubID On Action Sev Trait MH AI CT TI AT FA WF Version
----------- -- ------ ---- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -- -- -- -------
2156:0 Y A MED 0 0 0 0 15 FA N S54
Signature Micro-Engine: STRING.UDP (16 sigs)
SigID:SubID On Action Sev Trait MH AI CT TI AT FA WF Version
----------- -- ------ ---- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -- -- -- -------
4060:0 Y A MED 0 0 0 0 15 FA N S10
4060:1 Y A MED 0 0 0 0 15 FA N S173
4607:0 Y A HIGH 0 0 0 0 15 FA N S30
4607:1 Y A HIGH 0 0 0 0 15 FA N S30
4607:2 Y A HIGH 0 0 0 0 15 FA N S30
4607:3 Y A HIGH 0 0 0 0 15 FA N S30
4607:4 Y A HIGH 0 0 0 0 15 FA N S30
4608:0 N A HIGH 0 1 0 0 15 FA N S30
4608:1 Y A HIGH 0 1 0 0 15 FA N S30
4608:2 Y A HIGH 0 1 0 0 15 FA N S30
11000:0 N A LOW 0 0 0 0 15 FA N S37
11000:1 Y A LOW 0 0 0 0 15 FA N S37
11000:2 Y A LOW 0 0 0 0 15 FA N S136
11207:0 Y A INFO 0 0 0 0 15 FA N S139
11208:0 Y A INFO 0 0 0 0 15 FA N S139
11209:0 Y A INFO 0 0 0 0 15 FA N S139
Signature Micro-Engine: STRING.TCP (60 sigs)
SigID:SubID On Action Sev Trait MH AI CT TI AT FA WF Version
----------- -- ------ ---- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -- -- -- -------
3116:0 Y A HIGH 0 1 0 0 15 FA N S12
3117:0 N A LOW 0 1 0 0 15 FA N S13
3117:1 Y A LOW 0 1 0 0 15 FA N S13
3120:0 Y A LOW 0 1 0 0 15 FA N S13
3120:1 Y A LOW 0 1 0 0 15 FA N S13
3132:0 Y A HIGH 0 1 0 0 15 FA N S67
3132:1 Y A HIGH 0 1 0 0 15 FA N S67
3135:0 Y A HIGH 0 1 0 0 15 FA N S73
3137:1 Y A HIGH 0 1 0 0 15 FA N S83
3137:2 Y A HIGH 0 1 0 0 15 FA N S128
3141:0 Y A HIGH 0 1 0 0 15 FA N S94
3142:1 Y A HIGH 0 1 0 0 15 FA N S92
3152:0 Y A MED 0 1 0 0 15 FA N 2.1.1
3450:0 Y A LOW 0 1 0 0 15 FA N 1.0
5570:0 Y A R HIGH 0 1 0 0 15 FA N S185
5571:0 Y A R HIGH 0 1 0 0 15 FA N S185
9479:0 Y A HIGH 0 1 0 0 15 FA N S104
9480:0 Y A HIGH 0 1 0 0 15 FA N S104
9481:0 Y A HIGH 0 1 0 0 15 FA N S104
9482:0 Y A HIGH 0 1 0 0 15 FA N S104
9483:0 Y A HIGH 0 1 0 0 15 FA N S104
--More--
Any signature with a capital N under the 'On' column is DISABLED, while
any signature with a capital Y under the same column is ENABLED. In
this example, signatures 4608:0 and 11000:0 (belonging to the
STRING.UDP SME), and signature 3117:0 (belonging to the STRING.TCP SME)
are listed as disabled. For each signature listed as disabled in the
output of the "show ip ips signatures" command, a corresponding
"ip ips signature <SigID> <SubsigID> disable" command should be visible
on the running configuration. This is an example of the
"show running-configuration" command, using a filter to only display
configuration lines belonging to signatures that have been disabled:
Router#show running-config | include ip ips signature .* disable
ip ips signature 11000 0 disable
ip ips signature 4608 0 disable
ip ips signature 3117 0 disable
Router#
This vulnerability is documented in the Cisco Bug Toolkit as Bug ID
CSCsc33696.
Impact
======
While this is not a vulnerability in the Cisco IOS IPS code itself, in
the processing performed by Cisco IOS IPS on traffic traversing the
device, or in the Cisco IPS MC v2.1, this vulnerability might result in
an incomplete analysis of network traffic traversing the Cisco IOS IPS
device, which could allow some attacks to go unnoticed.
Software Versions and Fixes
===========================
When considering software upgrades, please also consult
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/products_security_advisories_listing.html
and any subsequent advisories to determine exposure and a complete
upgrade solution.
In all cases, customers should exercise caution to be certain the
devices to be upgraded contain sufficient memory and that current
hardware and software configurations will continue to be supported
properly by the new release. If the information is not clear, contact
the Cisco Technical Assistance Center ("TAC") for assistance.
Cisco has developed a software fix for this vulnerability. Once the fix
is applied to a VMS server running IPS MC v2.1, the IPS MC will
correctly populate the port field attached to a signature using either
the STRING.TCP or STRING.UDP SME. Additional steps will be required to
be performed. Please read the README file published together with the
software fix.
In order to obtain this software fix, customers should access the VMS
Software download page for IDS MC and IPS MC, available at
http://www.cisco.com/pcgi-bin/tablebuild.pl/mgmt-ctr-ids-app.
The fix consists of the following three files:
* idsmdc2.1.0-win-CSCsc336961.tar - this file contains the fix itself
for IPS MC v2.1 running on the Windows operating system.
* CSCOids2.1.0-sol-CSCsc336961.tar - this file contains the fix
itself for IPS MC v2.1 running on the Solaris operating system.
* CSCsc33696-README.txt - this file contains instructions on how to
apply the software fix to an affected IPS MC v2.1 installation
(either Windows or Solaris) and any needed pre and post
installation tasks to be carried out by the user.
Obtaining Fixed Software
========================
Customers with Service Contracts
+-------------------------------
Customers with contracts should obtain upgraded software through their
regular update channels. For most customers, this means that upgrades
should be obtained through the Software Center on Cisco's worldwide
website at http://www.cisco.com.
Customers using Third-party Support Organizations
+------------------------------------------------
Customers whose Cisco products are provided or maintained through prior
or existing agreement with third-party support organizations such as
Cisco Partners, authorized resellers, or service providers should
contact that support organization for assistance with the upgrade,
which should be free of charge.
Customers without Service Contracts
+----------------------------------
Customers who purchase direct from Cisco but who do not hold a Cisco
service contract and customers who purchase through third-party vendors
but are unsuccessful at obtaining fixed software through their point of
sale should get their upgrades by contacting the Cisco Technical
Assistance Center (TAC). TAC contacts are as follows.
* +1 800 553 2447 (toll free from within North America)
* +1 408 526 7209 (toll call from anywhere in the world)
* e-mail: tac at cisco.com
Please have your product serial number available and give the URL of
this notice as evidence of your entitlement to a free upgrade. Free
upgrades for non-contract customers must be requested through the TAC.
Please do not contact either "psirt at cisco.com" or
"security-alert at cisco.com" for software upgrades.
See http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/687/Directory/DirTAC.shtml for
additional TAC contact information, including special localized
telephone numbers and instructions and e-mail addresses for use in
various languages.
Customers may only install and expect support for the feature sets they
have purchased. By installing, downloading, accessing or otherwise
using such software upgrades, customers agree to be bound by the terms
of Cisco's software license terms found at
http://www.cisco.com/public/sw-license-agreement.html, or as otherwise
set forth at Cisco.com Downloads at
http://www.cisco.com/public/sw-center/sw-usingswc.shtml.
Workarounds
===========
There are no recommended workarounds for this vulnerability. Please see
the Obtaining Fixed Software section for appropriate solutions to
resolve this vulnerability.
Exploitation and Public Announcements
=====================================
The Cisco PSIRT is not aware of any public announcements or malicious
use of the vulnerability described in this advisory.
This vulnerability was reported to Cisco by a customer.
Status of This Notice: FINAL
============================
THIS ADVISORY IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" BASIS AND DOES NOT IMPLY ANY
KIND OF GUARANTEE OR WARRANTY, INCLUDING THE WARRANTY OF
MERCHANTABILITY. YOUR USE OF THE INFORMATION ON THE ADVISORY OR
MATERIALS LINKED FROM THE ADVISORY IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. CISCO RESERVES
THE RIGHT TO CHANGE OR UPDATE THIS NOTICE AT ANY TIME.
A stand-alone copy or paraphrase of the text of this security advisory
that omits the distribution URL in the following section is an
uncontrolled copy, and may lack important information or contain
factual errors.
Distribution
============
This advisory is posted on Cisco's worldwide website at
http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/707/cisco-sa-20051101-ipsmc.shtml.
In addition to worldwide web posting, a text version of this notice is
clear-signed with the Cisco PSIRT PGP key and is posted to the
following e-mail and Usenet news recipients.
* cust-security-announce at cisco.com
* first-teams at first.org (includes CERT/CC)
* bugtraq at securityfocus.com
* vulnwatch at vulnwatch.org
* cisco at spot.colorado.edu
* cisco-nsp at puck.nether.net
* full-disclosure at lists.grok.org.uk
* comp.dcom.sys.cisco at newsgate.cisco.com
Future updates of this advisory, if any, will be placed on Cisco's
worldwide website, but may or may not be actively announced on mailing
lists or newsgroups. Users concerned about this problem are encouraged
to check the above URL for any updates.
Revision History
================
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| | | |
| Revision 1.0 | 2005-November-1 | Initial public release |
| | | |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
Cisco Security Procedures
=========================
Complete information on reporting security vulnerabilities in Cisco
products, obtaining assistance with security incidents, and registering
to receive security information from Cisco, is available on Cisco's
worldwide website at
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/products_security_vulnerability_policy.html.
This includes instructions for press inquiries regarding Cisco security
notices. All Cisco security advisories are available at
http://www.cisco.com/go/psirt.
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All contents are Copyright 1992-2005 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights
reserved.
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Updated: Nov 01, 2005 Document ID: 68065
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