Cisco Media Experience Engine (MXE) 5600 devices that are running Cisco Media Processing Software releases prior to 1.2 ship with a root administrator account that is enabled by default with a default password. An unauthorized user could use this account to modify the software configuration and operating system settings or gain complete administrative control of the device. A software upgrade is not required to resolve this vulnerability. Customers can change the root account password by issuing a configuration command on affected engines. The workarounds detailed in this document provide instructions for changing the root account password. This advisory is posted at http://tools.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-20110601-mxe.
Cisco Media Experience Engine (MXE) 5600 devices that are running Cisco Media Processing Software releases prior to 1.2 ship with a root administrator account that is enabled by default with a default password. An unauthorized user could use this account to modify the software configuration and operating system settings or gain complete administrative control of the device. A software upgrade is not required to resolve this vulnerability. Customers can change the root account password by issuing a configuration command on affected engines. The workarounds detailed in this document provide instructions for changing the root account password.
This advisory is posted at http://tools.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-20110601-mxe.
This vulnerability affects Cisco MXE 5600 units that are running Cisco Media Processing Software releases prior to 1.2. To determine the software release that is running on a Cisco MXE unit, log in to the device and issue the show version command-line interface (CLI) command to display the system banner. The following example shows a Cisco MXE 5600 device running software version 1.2.0-34.
Vulmon
mxe# show version
------------------------------------------------------------
Cisco MXE-5600 Software Versions
------------------------------------------------------------
MXE-OS 1.2.0-34
MXE-MEDIA-O 1.2.0-34
------------------------------------------------------------
The Cisco MXE 3000 Series Media Experience Engines are not affected by this advisory.
No other Cisco products are currently known to be affected by this vulnerability.
The Cisco Media Experience Engine (MXE) 5600 is a modular media-processing platform that provides advanced media-processing and media-transformation services.
The Cisco MXE 5600 contains a root user that is enabled for advanced debugging but is unnecessary during normal operations. The root account is not the same as the admin and user accounts. The root account is enabled by default in Cisco Media Processing Software releases prior to 1.2 and is accessible via the local console and SSH. It may also be accessible via Telnet if Telnet is enabled. Telnet is not enabled by default.
Cisco Media Processing Software releases prior to 1.2 install with a default password for the root user.
Cisco Media Processing Software release 1.2 requires an administrator to choose a root password during installation. The root account cannot be accessed until this step is complete.
In future software releases, the root account will be disabled by default as mentioned in Cisco bug ID CSCto81037 ( registered customers only) . For instructions on how to set or change the root password, see the Workarounds section of this advisory.
This vulnerability is documented in the Cisco bug ID CSCto77737 ( registered customers only) and has been assigned the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) ID CVE-2011-1623.
In Cisco Media Processing Software releases prior to 1.2, the root account is enabled by default with a default password, but the root user can change the password at any time by issuing the passwd command. The passwd command will accept a null or weak password, but Cisco highly recommends using a long, complex password. To change the password, users will need the default password. To obtain the default password, customers must contact the Cisco TAC. Because entitlement will be verified, please have the product serial number available and refer to this advisory.
Cisco Media Processing Software Release 1.2 requires the administrator to choose a root password during installation, and the root account cannot be accessed until this step is complete.
In Cisco Media Processing Software Release 1.2, the root password can be changed at any other time using the expert password command while logged in as admin. The expert password command is a new feature mentioned in Cisco bug ID CSCto77737 ( registered customers only) and integrated in Cisco Media Processing Software Release 1.2.
In future software releases, the root account will be disabled by default as mentioned in Cisco bug ID CSCto81037 ( registered customers only) .
Additional mitigations that can be deployed on Cisco devices within the network are available in the Cisco Applied Intelligence companion document for this advisory: http://tools.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoAppliedMitigationBulletin/cisco-amb-20110601-mxe
When considering software upgrades, also consult http://www.cisco.com/go/psirt 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) or your contracted maintenance provider for assistance.
Cisco Media Processing Software for the Cisco MXE 5600 is available for download at http://www.cisco.com/cisco/software/navigator.html?mdfid=282790320&i=rm
The Cisco PSIRT is not aware of any public announcements or malicious use of the vulnerability described in this advisory.
This vulnerability was discovered during internal testing.
To learn about Cisco security vulnerability disclosure policies and publications, see the Security Vulnerability Policy. This document also contains instructions for obtaining fixed software and receiving security vulnerability information from Cisco.
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Revision 1.0 |
2011-June-01 |
Initial public release |
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