CVE-2017-6626 in Finesse Notification Service
Summary
by MITRE
A vulnerability in the Cisco Finesse Notification Service for Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise (UCCE) 11.5(1) and 11.6(1) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to retrieve information from agents using the Finesse Desktop. The vulnerability is due to the existence of a user account that has an undocumented, hard-coded password. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by using the hard-coded credentials to subscribe to the Finesse Notification Service, which would allow the attacker to receive notifications when an agent signs in or out of the Finesse Desktop, when information about an agent changes, or when an agent's state changes. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCvc08314.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/22/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2017-6626 represents a critical security flaw in Cisco Finesse Notification Service within Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise versions 11.5(1) and 11.6(1). This weakness stems from the presence of an undocumented user account containing a hard-coded password, creating an unauthorized access vector that bypasses normal authentication mechanisms. The flaw resides in the notification service architecture that governs agent state monitoring and communication within the contact center environment, making it particularly dangerous for organizations relying on these systems for customer service operations.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability exploits a fundamental design flaw where Cisco embedded a default credential within the software configuration without proper documentation or security considerations. This hard-coded account allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to establish a connection to the Finesse Notification Service and subscribe to agent-related events. The service operates on a publish-subscribe model where it broadcasts notifications about agent activities including login/logout events, state changes, and information updates. This creates a reconnaissance opportunity for attackers to gather intelligence about agent availability and system operations without requiring legitimate credentials or authorization.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple information disclosure, as it enables attackers to perform passive reconnaissance and potentially correlate agent activities with business operations. An attacker could map agent availability patterns, identify peak operational hours, and gather sensitive information about agent work status, which could be leveraged for social engineering attacks or more sophisticated exploitation attempts. The vulnerability affects the confidentiality aspect of the CIA triad by allowing unauthorized access to agent state information that should remain private within the contact center environment.
Organizations implementing Cisco UCCE solutions must understand that this vulnerability aligns with CWE-798, which specifically addresses the use of hard-coded credentials in software, and falls under ATT&CK technique T1078.004 for valid accounts. The security implications require immediate remediation through Cisco's published security advisory, which typically involves applying software patches or implementing network segmentation to isolate the affected services. Additionally, organizations should conduct thorough security assessments of their contact center environments to identify any other instances of hard-coded credentials or undocumented accounts that may pose similar risks to their operational security posture.