CVE-2017-6746 in Web Security Appliance
Summary
by MITRE
A vulnerability in the web interface of the Cisco Web Security Appliance (WSA) could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to perform command injection and elevate privileges to root. The attacker must authenticate with valid administrator credentials. Affected Products: Cisco AsyncOS Software 10.0 and later for WSA on both virtual and hardware appliances. More Information: CSCvd88862. Known Affected Releases: 10.1.0-204. Known Fixed Releases: 10.5.1-270 10.1.1-235.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/06/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2017-6746 represents a critical command injection flaw within the web interface of Cisco Web Security Appliance systems. This security weakness resides in the AsyncOS software version 10.0 and later implementations, affecting both virtual and hardware deployments of the WSA platform. The flaw specifically targets the authentication mechanisms and privilege escalation pathways within the web administration interface, creating a significant attack surface for malicious actors who possess valid administrator credentials. The vulnerability's classification aligns with CWE-77 and CWE-20, indicating command injection and input validation issues respectively, which are fundamental concerns in web application security. This weakness enables attackers to execute arbitrary commands on the affected system, potentially leading to complete system compromise and unauthorized access to protected network resources.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability requires an authenticated attacker with administrative privileges, which means the initial compromise typically involves credential theft or social engineering attacks. Once authenticated, the attacker can leverage the command injection flaw to execute arbitrary system commands with root-level privileges, effectively bypassing the normal access controls and privilege boundaries within the WSA system. The attack vector operates through the web interface's handling of user input, where insufficient validation allows malicious payloads to be interpreted and executed as system commands rather than benign input. This type of vulnerability falls under the ATT&CK framework's privilege escalation techniques, specifically targeting the execution of malicious code with elevated privileges. The affected versions include 10.1.0-204 and subsequent releases, with fixes available in versions 10.5.1-270 and 10.1.1-235, demonstrating the severity of the issue as Cisco prioritized addressing this flaw in their security updates.
Organizations utilizing Cisco WSA appliances must implement immediate mitigation strategies to protect their network infrastructure from exploitation attempts. The most effective approach involves applying the vendor-provided security patches to versions 10.5.1-270 and 10.1.1-235, which contain the necessary fixes to address the command injection vulnerability. Network administrators should also implement additional security controls including strict access control policies, regular credential rotation, and monitoring of administrative access logs for suspicious activities. The vulnerability's impact extends beyond simple privilege escalation as it can enable attackers to establish persistent access, exfiltrate sensitive data, or disrupt network security operations. Security teams should also consider implementing network segmentation strategies to limit the potential blast radius if exploitation occurs, and deploy intrusion detection systems to monitor for known attack patterns associated with command injection exploits. The remediation process must include thorough testing of patches in non-production environments before deployment to ensure system stability and prevent operational disruptions. Organizations should also conduct comprehensive vulnerability assessments to identify any other potentially affected systems within their network infrastructure that may be running vulnerable versions of Cisco AsyncOS software.