CVE-2020-3567 in Industrial Network Director
Summary
by MITRE • 10/08/2020
A vulnerability in the management REST API of Cisco Industrial Network Director (IND) could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to cause the CPU utilization to increase to 100 percent, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected device. The vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of requests sent to the REST API. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted request to the REST API. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause a permanent DoS condition that is due to high CPU utilization. Manual intervention may be required to recover the Cisco IND.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/17/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2020-3567 affects Cisco Industrial Network Director, a management platform designed for industrial network environments that requires robust security measures due to its critical role in operational technology infrastructure. This weakness resides within the management REST API component of the software, which serves as the primary interface for administrative operations and device management within industrial networks. The vulnerability represents a significant concern for industrial control systems where availability of network management tools directly impacts operational continuity and safety protocols.
The technical flaw stems from inadequate input validation mechanisms within the REST API implementation, specifically failing to properly sanitize or validate incoming requests before processing them. This insufficient validation creates an entry point where maliciously crafted requests can be submitted to the API endpoint, bypassing normal security controls and validation checks. The vulnerability manifests when the API receives malformed or specially constructed requests that trigger excessive processing within the system's CPU resources. According to CWE standards, this vulnerability aligns with CWE-20, which describes improper input validation, and CWE-400, which addresses unspecified denial of service conditions. The attack vector requires an authenticated attacker who already possesses valid credentials to access the system, making this a privilege escalation scenario rather than an initial access vulnerability.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple service disruption, as it can lead to complete system unavailability that requires manual intervention for recovery. When exploited, the vulnerability causes sustained 100% CPU utilization on the affected device, effectively rendering the management interface unusable and potentially disrupting network operations. This type of denial of service condition poses serious risks in industrial environments where network management systems are critical for monitoring and controlling operational processes. The permanent nature of the DoS condition means that traditional restart mechanisms may not resolve the issue, requiring administrator intervention to restore normal operations. This vulnerability directly impacts the availability aspect of the CIA triad, compromising the ability of authorized personnel to manage and monitor their industrial network infrastructure effectively.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2020-3567 should focus on both immediate defensive measures and long-term architectural improvements. Organizations should implement strict access controls and authentication mechanisms to limit who can submit requests to the REST API, reducing the attack surface for this vulnerability. Network segmentation and firewall rules can help restrict access to the management API to only trusted administrative workstations and networks. Cisco has released patches and updates to address this vulnerability, which should be applied immediately to all affected systems. Additionally, implementing monitoring solutions that can detect unusual CPU utilization patterns and automated alerting systems can help identify exploitation attempts before they cause complete service disruption. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this type of vulnerability under T1499, which covers network denial of service attacks, emphasizing the importance of protecting management interfaces from unauthorized access and ensuring proper input validation in all API endpoints. Regular security assessments and vulnerability scanning of industrial network management systems should be conducted to identify similar weaknesses in other components of the operational technology infrastructure.