CRIME FW: Low read - Cyber Infrastructure advisory

From: George Heuston (geoneve@private)
Date: Wed Dec 17 2003 - 18:42:21 PST

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    -----Original Message-----
    From: Gregg Shankle [mailto:Gregg.Shankle@private] 
    Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2003 2:53 PM
    To: Gregg Shankle
    Subject: Low read - Cyber Infrastructure advisory
    
    The following information was received from one of our multi-state
    infrastructure information sharing partners.
    
    _______________________________________
    
    DATE ISSUED: 
    Wednesday, December 17, 2003 
    		
    SUBJECT:
    Cisco advises of PIX firewall vulnerabilities.
    
    OVERVIEW: 
    Cisco issued an advisory documenting vulnerabilities on
    PIX firewalls that have Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) or
    Virtual Private Network Client (VPNC) enabled. Either vulnerability,
    if
    exploited, would cause the firewall to fail, resulting in a denial of
    service attack.
    
    SYSTEMS AFFECTED: 
    All CISCO PIX firewalls running:
    
    *	CSCeb20276 (SNMPv3)
    6.3.1, 6.2.2 and earlier, 6.1.4 and
    earlier. 5.x.x and earlier.
    			
    *	CSCec20244/CSCea28896 (VPNC)
    6.2.3 and earlier.
    6.1.x and 5.x.x are not affected; they
    do not implement the VPNC feature.
    
     RISK:
    Government: 
    1.	Large and medium government entities: Medium 
    2.	Small government entities: Low 
    	Businesses: 
    			1.	Large and medium businesses: Medium 
    			2.	Small businesses: Low
     
    		Home users: Not applicable
    
    DESCRIPTION:
    SNMPv3 - CISCO PIX firewalls could crash and reload,
    creating a Denial of Service condition, when processing a SNMPv3
    message
    when snmp-server host is configured on the firewall. The snmp-server
    host command is used to specify the recipient of an SNMP notification
    operation. Note this could occur even though PIX firewalls do not
    support SNMPv3.
    
    VPNC - VPNC is also known as Easy VPN or ezVPN. This
    vulnerability exists only when the PIX firewall is configured as a VPN
    Client. An established VPNC IPSec tunnel connection can be dropped if
    another IPSec client attempts to make a connection to the outside
    interface of the VPN Client on the PIX firewall. The exploit of the
    vulnerability can create a Denial of Service condition.
    
    RECOMMENDATIONS:
    1) Employ the following workarounds and best practices
    for the SNMP vulnerability:
    
    *	SNMP on the PIX is DISABLED by default,
    and warning messages are displayed to the administrator when SNMP is
    configured to listen on the OUTSIDE interface. If SNMP is not required
    make sure it is disabled on the firewall.
    
    *	Block SNMP at the Internet firewall, if
    you do not have to manage any devices that are not on your network.
    			
    *	Filter SNMP outbound (deny UDP port 161
    and 162 and TCP and UDP ports 1993.)
    
    *	Change the snmp-server community string
    to something other than "public".
    
    *	Restrict access to only allow trusted
    hosts on specific interfaces to poll the SNMP server on the Cisco PIX
    firewall.
    	 If applicable, apply the following patches after
    appropriate testing.  Note that Cisco has indicated that there is no
    workaround for the VPNC vulnerability so the only solution for
    organizations using PIX firewalls as a VPN Client is to apply the
    patch.
    
    *	SNMPv3 - apply Cisco CSCeb20276 for PIX
    OS software versions 6.3.2 and later, 6.2.3 and later, 6.1.5 and later.
    
    			
    *	VPNC - apply Cisco CSCec20244/CSCea28896
    for PIX OS software versions 6.3.1 and later, 6.2(3.100) and later. 
    
    REFERENCES
    
    CISCO
    	
    http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/vpndevc/ps2030/products_security_
    
    advisory09186a00801e118a.shtml
    	
    http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/707/cisco-sa-20031215-pix.shtml 
    		CISCO PIX Firewall Documentation
    	
    http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/iaabu/pix/pix_sw/index.h
    
    tm
    		AusCert
    		http://www.auscert.org.au/render.html?it=3690&cid=1 
    		SECUNIA
    		http://www.secunia.com/advisories/10434/ 
    



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