CVE-2014-0668 in Secure Access Control System
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the portal in Cisco Secure Access Control System (ACS) allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via an unspecified parameter, aka Bug ID CSCue65949.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/08/2021
The CVE-2014-0668 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site scripting flaw within Cisco Secure Access Control System portal components, exposing organizations to significant web application security risks. This vulnerability specifically affects the Cisco Secure ACS platform, which serves as a centralized access control solution for enterprise networks, managing user authentication and authorization across various network resources. The flaw exists in the portal interface that administrators and users interact with to manage access policies, monitor network activity, and configure security settings, making it a prime target for malicious actors seeking to compromise the authentication infrastructure.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation and output encoding within the portal's parameter handling mechanisms. Attackers can exploit this weakness by crafting malicious payloads through an unspecified parameter that gets processed and rendered without proper sanitization. This allows arbitrary web script or HTML code to be injected into the web application's response, which then executes in the context of other users' browsers who access the compromised portal. The vulnerability falls under CWE-79, which specifically addresses cross-site scripting flaws, and demonstrates the classic pattern of insufficient sanitization of user-provided data before its inclusion in web page output. The attack vector operates entirely through web-based communication, requiring no local access or privileged credentials to exploit.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends far beyond simple script injection, as it can enable attackers to perform a wide range of malicious activities within the compromised environment. An attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability could steal session cookies, allowing them to impersonate legitimate users and gain unauthorized access to the Cisco Secure ACS management interface. This would provide access to sensitive network configuration data, user authentication records, and authorization policies that control network access. The vulnerability could also facilitate more sophisticated attacks such as credential theft, privilege escalation, and potential lateral movement within the network infrastructure. Given that Cisco Secure ACS serves as a critical access control point, successful exploitation could lead to complete compromise of network security controls and unauthorized access to protected network resources.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including applying the relevant Cisco security patches and updates released to address this vulnerability, which would typically involve upgrading to versions that include proper input validation and output encoding mechanisms. Network segmentation and access controls should be strengthened to limit exposure of the vulnerable portal to untrusted networks, while implementing web application firewalls to detect and block malicious payloads. Security monitoring should be enhanced to detect unusual activity patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts, particularly focusing on anomalous parameter values in portal access logs. The vulnerability also highlights the importance of regular security assessments and penetration testing of critical infrastructure components, as well as maintaining up-to-date vulnerability management processes that can quickly identify and remediate similar issues across the enterprise network infrastructure. This vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566, which covers the exploitation of web application vulnerabilities for initial access and privilege escalation within target environments.