Privilege escalation in Cisco Mobility Express

1) Configuration error

EUVDB-ID: #VU12389

Risk: Low

CVSSv3.1: 7.7 [CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:U/RL:O/RC:C]

CVE-ID: CVE-2018-0226

CWE-ID: CWE-16 - Configuration

Exploit availability: No

Description

The vulnerability allows a remote authenticated attacker to gain elevated privileges on the target system.

The weakness exists due to the Cisco Mobility Express controller configures the default SSH user account for an access point to be the first SSH user account that was created for the Mobility Express controller, if an administrator added user accounts directly to the controller instead of using the default configuration or the SSH username creation wizard. Although the user account has read-only privileges for the Mobility Express controller, the account can have administrative privileges for an associated access point. A remote attacker who has valid user credentials for an affected controller can use the default SSH user account to authenticate via SSH, log in with administrative privileges and perform arbitrary administrative actions.

Mitigation

Update to versions 8.7(102.0), 8.7(1.10), 8.6(101.0), 8.6(1.94), 8.5(110.0),or 8.5(107.22).

Vulnerable software versions

Cisco Mobility Express: 8.3.90.65 - 8.4.1.65

External links

http://tools.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-20180502-aironet-ssh

Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

Yes. This vulnerability can be exploited by a remote authenticated user via the Internet.

How the attacker can exploit this vulnerability?

The attacker would have to send a specially crafted request to the affected device in order to exploit this vulnerability.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

No. We are not aware of malware exploiting this vulnerability.