A vulnerability in the Cisco FindIT Network Management Software virtual machine (VM) images could allow an unauthenticated, local attacker who has access to the VM console to log in to the device with a static account that has root privileges. The vulnerability is due to the presence of an account with static credentials in the underlying Linux operating system. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by logging in to the command line of the affected VM with the static account. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to log in with root-level privileges. This vulnerability affects only Cisco FindIT Network Manager and Cisco FindIT Network Probe Release 1.1.4 if these products are using Cisco-supplied VM images. No other releases or deployment models are known to be vulnerable.
The product contains hard-coded credentials, such as a password or cryptographic key, which it uses for its own inbound authentication, outbound communication to external components, or encryption of internal data.
| Name | Vendor | Start Version | End Version |
|---|---|---|---|
| Findit_network_manager | Cisco | 1.1.4 (including) | 1.1.4 (including) |
| Findit_network_probe | Cisco | 1.1.4 (including) | 1.1.4 (including) |
Hard-coded credentials typically create a significant hole that allows an attacker to bypass the authentication that has been configured by the product administrator. This hole might be difficult for the system administrator to detect. Even if detected, it can be difficult to fix, so the administrator may be forced into disabling the product entirely. There are two main variations:
In the Inbound variant, a default administration account is created, and a simple password is hard-coded into the product and associated with that account. This hard-coded password is the same for each installation of the product, and it usually cannot be changed or disabled by system administrators without manually modifying the program, or otherwise patching the product. If the password is ever discovered or published (a common occurrence on the Internet), then anybody with knowledge of this password can access the product. Finally, since all installations of the product will have the same password, even across different organizations, this enables massive attacks such as worms to take place. The Outbound variant applies to front-end systems that authenticate with a back-end service. The back-end service may require a fixed password which can be easily discovered. The programmer may simply hard-code those back-end credentials into the front-end product. Any user of that program may be able to extract the password. Client-side systems with hard-coded passwords pose even more of a threat, since the extraction of a password from a binary is usually very simple.