CVE-2020-3329 in Integrated Management Controller Supervisor
Summary
by MITRE
A vulnerability in role-based access control of Cisco Integrated Management Controller (IMC) Supervisor, Cisco UCS Director, and Cisco UCS Director Express for Big Data could allow a read-only authenticated, remote attacker to disable user accounts on an affected system. The vulnerability is due to incorrect allocation of the enable/disable action button under the role-based access control code on an affected system. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by authenticating as a read-only user and then updating the roles of other users to disable them. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to disable users, including administrative users.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/15/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2020-3329 represents a critical weakness in the role-based access control implementation of Cisco's integrated management solutions including the IMC Supervisor, Cisco UCS Director, and Cisco UCS Director Express for Big Data platforms. This flaw specifically targets the authorization mechanisms that govern user account management permissions within these enterprise-grade systems. The vulnerability stems from improper handling of access control privileges, where the enable/disable action button functionality is incorrectly allocated within the role-based access control framework, creating an unexpected privilege escalation path for malicious actors.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability manifests through a specific flaw in how the system validates user permissions when executing account management operations. When a read-only authenticated user attempts to manipulate other user accounts, the system's access control validation logic fails to properly enforce the principle of least privilege. This misconfiguration allows the attacker to leverage their limited read-only access to modify user roles and disable accounts across the system. The vulnerability is particularly concerning because it bypasses normal administrative controls and can be exploited remotely without requiring elevated privileges.
Operationally, this vulnerability creates a significant risk for organizations relying on these Cisco management platforms for infrastructure oversight. Attackers can exploit this weakness to systematically disable administrative accounts, potentially leading to complete system lockout scenarios and operational disruption. The remote exploitation capability means that attackers can target these systems from outside the network perimeter, making the vulnerability particularly dangerous in environments where network segmentation is not properly implemented. Organizations may experience service degradation, unauthorized access to sensitive systems, and potential compliance violations due to the unauthorized modification of user access controls.
The security implications extend beyond simple account disabling to encompass broader system integrity concerns and potential lateral movement capabilities for attackers. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-284 Access Control Issues, specifically addressing improper access control mechanisms that allow unauthorized privilege escalation. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this represents a technique for privilege escalation and account manipulation under the T1078 Valid Accounts and T1547 Account Manipulation categories. Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including applying Cisco's security patches, reviewing and restricting user account permissions, and implementing additional monitoring for unauthorized account modifications. Network segmentation and multi-factor authentication should be strengthened to reduce the attack surface and prevent exploitation of this access control weakness.