A vulnerability in the configuration of the Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM) used in Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software, Cisco Firepower Management Center (FMC) Software, and Cisco FXOS Software could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition. The vulnerability is due to improper resource management in the context of user session management. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by connecting to an affected system and performing many simultaneous successful Secure Shell (SSH) logins. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to exhaust system resources and cause the device to reload, resulting in a DoS condition. To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker needs valid user credentials on the system.
The product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource.
| Name | Vendor | Start Version | End Version |
|---|---|---|---|
| Firepower_9300_firmware | Cisco | r114 (including) | r114 (including) |
| Firepower_9300_firmware | Cisco | r241 (including) | r241 (including) |
Mitigation of resource exhaustion attacks requires that the target system either:
The first of these solutions is an issue in itself though, since it may allow attackers to prevent the use of the system by a particular valid user. If the attacker impersonates the valid user, they may be able to prevent the user from accessing the server in question.
The second solution is simply difficult to effectively institute – and even when properly done, it does not provide a full solution. It simply makes the attack require more resources on the part of the attacker.