CVE-2008-2053 in Unified Customer Voice Portal
Summary
by MITRE
Unspecified vulnerability in Cisco Unified Customer Voice Portal (CVP) 4.0.x before 4.0(2)_ES14, 4.1.x before 4.1(1)_ES11, and 7.x before 7.0(1) allows remote authenticated users with administrator role privileges to create, modify, or delete a superuser account.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/10/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2008-2053 represents a critical privilege escalation flaw within Cisco Unified Customer Voice Portal software versions 4.0.x through 4.1.x and 7.x releases prior to specific maintenance updates. This issue affects organizations relying on Cisco's customer voice portal solutions for their telecommunications infrastructure, creating a significant security risk when properly authenticated administrators exploit this weakness. The vulnerability specifically targets the authorization mechanisms within the CVP platform, allowing malicious actors with administrator credentials to manipulate user account permissions beyond their intended scope.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from insufficient access control validation within the CVP administrative interface. When authenticated administrators perform operations related to user account management, the system fails to properly verify that the administrative privileges should permit modification of superuser accounts. This flaw falls under the category of improper access control as defined by CWE-285, where the system does not properly enforce authorization checks for privileged operations. The vulnerability enables what is essentially a privilege escalation attack vector where a user with administrator privileges can elevate their access level to superuser status or manipulate existing superuser accounts, effectively bypassing the intended security boundaries.
Operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple account manipulation, as it fundamentally compromises the security model of the affected Cisco CVP installations. Organizations utilizing these vulnerable versions face potential data breaches, unauthorized system modifications, and complete loss of administrative control over their voice portal infrastructure. Attackers could leverage this vulnerability to establish persistent backdoors, modify critical telephony configurations, or gain access to sensitive customer communication data that flows through the unified customer voice portal. The implications are particularly severe for contact centers and customer service operations where the voice portal serves as a primary interface for handling confidential customer information. This vulnerability directly maps to ATT&CK technique T1078.004 which covers valid accounts and T1548.001 for abuse of privileges, demonstrating how this flaw enables adversaries to maintain long-term access and escalate their capabilities within the target environment.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2008-2053 require immediate implementation of Cisco's recommended security patches and updates for all affected CVP versions. Organizations should ensure that systems are updated to the minimum required maintenance releases specified in the CVE description, namely 4.0(2)_ES14, 4.1(1)_ES11, and 7.0(1). Network segmentation and access control measures should be implemented to limit administrative access to only trusted personnel, while monitoring systems should be deployed to detect unauthorized account modifications. Additionally, regular security assessments and vulnerability scanning should be conducted to identify any remaining instances of the vulnerable software within the organization's infrastructure. The remediation process must include comprehensive testing of updated systems to ensure that the patch does not introduce compatibility issues with existing telephony applications or customer service workflows that depend on the CVP platform's functionality.