CVE-2020-3499 in FirePOWER Management Center
Summary
by MITRE • 10/22/2020
A vulnerability in the licensing service of Cisco Firepower Management Center (FMC) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition.The vulnerability is due to improper handling of system resource values by the affected system. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending malicious requests to the targeted system. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the affected system to become unresponsive, resulting in a DoS condition and preventing the management of dependent devices.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/26/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2020-3499 resides within the licensing service of Cisco Firepower Management Center software, representing a critical security weakness that undermines the availability of network security infrastructure. This flaw specifically affects the FMC software's ability to properly manage system resource values during processing of licensing requests, creating an exploitable condition that can be leveraged by remote attackers without requiring authentication credentials. The affected system demonstrates inadequate input validation and resource management mechanisms that fail to properly handle malformed or malicious requests directed toward the licensing service component.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs through the transmission of specially crafted requests to the licensing service interface of the FMC system, where the improper handling of system resource values leads to resource exhaustion or memory corruption conditions. This flaw falls under CWE-20, which describes improper input validation, and specifically relates to improper handling of system resources in a manner that can lead to denial of service conditions. The attack vector is remote and unauthenticated, meaning that any individual with network access to the targeted FMC system can potentially exploit this vulnerability without requiring prior authorization or credentials, making it particularly dangerous in enterprise environments where such systems are often exposed to external networks.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple service disruption, as it fundamentally compromises the management capabilities of the Firepower Management Center and its dependent network devices. When successfully exploited, the vulnerability causes the affected system to become unresponsive, rendering the entire licensing service unavailable and preventing administrators from managing device licenses, updating software, or performing essential configuration changes. This condition creates cascading effects throughout the network security infrastructure, as dependent devices may lose their ability to function properly or receive critical updates, potentially leaving the organization vulnerable to other security threats while the primary management system remains inaccessible.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should implement immediate mitigation strategies including network segmentation to isolate the FMC system from untrusted networks, applying available security patches from Cisco, and implementing monitoring solutions to detect anomalous request patterns that may indicate exploitation attempts. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this vulnerability under T1499.004, which covers network denial of service attacks, and organizations should consider this threat when developing their incident response procedures. Additionally, implementing rate limiting and request validation mechanisms at network boundaries can help reduce the risk of exploitation while permanent patches are deployed, though the most effective mitigation remains the timely application of Cisco's security advisories and software updates specifically designed to address this resource handling weakness in the licensing service component.