CVE-2022-20779 in Enterprise NFV Infrastructure Software
Summary
by MITRE • 05/04/2022
Multiple vulnerabilities in Cisco Enterprise NFV Infrastructure Software (NFVIS) could allow an attacker to escape from the guest virtual machine (VM) to the host machine, inject commands that execute at the root level, or leak system data from the host to the VM. For more information about these vulnerabilities, see the Details section of this advisory.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/07/2022
Cisco Enterprise NFV Infrastructure Software NFVIS contains multiple virtualization security vulnerabilities that enable attackers to achieve privilege escalation and data exfiltration between virtual machine and host environments. These vulnerabilities stem from insufficient isolation mechanisms within the virtualization framework, creating pathways for malicious actors to breach the traditional security boundaries that separate guest VMs from host systems. The primary technical flaw involves inadequate memory management and hypervisor controls that allow unauthorized code execution and data manipulation across virtualization layers.
The operational impact of these vulnerabilities extends beyond simple privilege escalation to include complete system compromise and data leakage scenarios. An attacker who successfully exploits these flaws can execute arbitrary commands with root privileges on the host system while maintaining stealth through the virtualized environment. This creates a persistent threat vector that can be leveraged for long-term access and data exfiltration. The vulnerabilities specifically affect the NFVIS platform's handling of virtual machine isolation, memory allocation, and inter-VM communication protocols, which are fundamental components of enterprise NFV deployments.
These security weaknesses directly relate to CWE-264 permissions, privileges, and access controls, as well as CWE-200 information exposure, since the vulnerabilities enable unauthorized access to system resources and data. The attack vectors align with ATT&CK techniques including privilege escalation through virtualization exploits and credential access via system binary exploitation. Organizations utilizing Cisco NFVIS for network function virtualization face significant risk of complete infrastructure compromise, particularly in environments where multiple virtual machines share the same host infrastructure. The vulnerabilities are particularly concerning in cloud and service provider environments where NFVIS is commonly deployed for network services virtualization.
Mitigation strategies should include immediate patching of affected NFVIS versions, implementation of network segmentation to isolate virtualized environments, and enhanced monitoring of virtual machine activities for signs of unauthorized access. Organizations should also consider disabling unnecessary virtualization features and implementing strict access controls for NFVIS management interfaces. Regular vulnerability assessments and security audits of virtualization environments are essential to identify and remediate similar issues before they can be exploited by threat actors. The affected systems require comprehensive security hardening measures including regular updates, configuration reviews, and implementation of security monitoring solutions specifically designed for virtualized environments to detect and prevent exploitation attempts.