CVE-2020-26080 in IoT Field Network Director
Summary
by MITRE • 11/18/2020
A vulnerability in the user management functionality of Cisco IoT Field Network Director (FND) could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to manage user information for users in different domains on an affected system. The vulnerability is due to improper domain access control. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by manipulating JSON payloads to target different domains on an affected system. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to manage user information for users in different domains on an affected system.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/08/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2020-26080 resides within Cisco IoT Field Network Director, a network management solution designed to oversee and control IoT deployments across enterprise environments. This security flaw represents a critical access control weakness that undermines the fundamental security boundaries between different administrative domains within the system. The affected software operates in environments where multiple organizational units or business segments require isolated management domains, making proper domain separation essential for maintaining security boundaries and preventing unauthorized cross-domain access.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability stems from inadequate validation of domain identifiers within the user management API endpoints. When authenticated users submit JSON payloads to modify user information, the system fails to properly verify that the requested domain matches the authenticated user's authorized domain scope. This improper domain access control mechanism allows attackers to manipulate the domain field within JSON request bodies to target users in other domains, effectively bypassing the intended security boundaries. The flaw specifically manifests in the application's failure to implement proper input sanitization and domain scope validation during user management operations.
Operationally, this vulnerability presents a significant risk to organizations deploying Cisco IoT Field Network Director, particularly those with multi-tenant or multi-domain configurations. An authenticated attacker who gains access to any user account within the system can leverage this weakness to escalate privileges and gain unauthorized access to user accounts belonging to other domains. This cross-domain user management capability could enable attackers to modify user permissions, reset passwords, disable accounts, or perform other administrative actions that compromise the security posture of multiple organizational units within the same management system. The impact extends beyond simple information disclosure to encompass potential privilege escalation and unauthorized system control.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-285, which addresses improper authorization issues in software systems, and demonstrates characteristics consistent with the ATT&CK technique T1078.004 for valid accounts and T1531 for credential access through unauthorized system access. Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including applying the latest security patches from Cisco, implementing network segmentation to limit access to the affected system, and enforcing strict API access controls. Additional defensive measures include monitoring for unusual domain access patterns in system logs, implementing role-based access controls that restrict domain manipulation capabilities, and conducting comprehensive security assessments of all user management APIs within the IoT ecosystem. The vulnerability underscores the critical importance of proper access control implementation in multi-domain network management systems and serves as a reminder of the potential for privilege escalation through inadequate input validation mechanisms.