CVE-2024-20282 in Nexus Dashboard
Summary
by MITRE • 04/03/2024
A vulnerability in Cisco Nexus Dashboard could allow an authenticated, local attacker with valid rescue-user credentials to elevate privileges to root on an affected device.
This vulnerability is due to insufficient protections for a sensitive access token. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by using this token to access resources within the device infrastructure. A successful exploit could allow an attacker to gain root access to the filesystem or hosted containers on an affected device.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/09/2024
This vulnerability resides within Cisco Nexus Dashboard where an authenticated local attacker with valid rescue-user credentials can escalate privileges to root access on affected devices. The flaw stems from inadequate protection mechanisms surrounding a sensitive access token that should remain restricted to authorized administrative functions. The vulnerability represents a critical privilege escalation issue that directly undermines the device's security architecture and access control measures.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability exploits the insufficient token protection mechanisms that should normally prevent unauthorized privilege elevation. When an attacker possesses valid rescue-user credentials, they can leverage the unprotected access token to gain elevated system privileges that should otherwise be restricted. This creates a dangerous scenario where legitimate administrative access can be abused to achieve full system compromise. The access token serves as a critical control point that fails to properly validate the requesting entity's authorization level, allowing unauthorized privilege escalation through the device's internal access control mechanisms.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents a severe risk to network infrastructure security as it enables attackers to gain complete system control over affected Cisco Nexus devices. The exploitation pathway allows for root access to the filesystem and hosted containers, providing attackers with unrestricted access to all device resources, configuration data, and potentially enabling further lateral movement within the network. This vulnerability directly impacts the CIA triad by compromising both confidentiality and integrity of the device's operational environment, while also potentially affecting availability through system compromise.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-284 which addresses improper access control, specifically focusing on insufficient privilege checks and inadequate access token protection mechanisms. This weakness enables unauthorized privilege escalation through inadequate authorization validation, representing a fundamental breakdown in the device's security model. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to privilege escalation techniques and potentially to lateral movement capabilities once root access is achieved, as attackers can leverage the compromised system to access other network resources.
Mitigation strategies should prioritize immediate credential management and access control reinforcement. Organizations must ensure that rescue-user accounts are properly secured with strong authentication mechanisms and that access token protections are strengthened through proper session management and authorization validation. Network segmentation and monitoring should be implemented to detect anomalous access patterns, while regular security audits should verify that access control mechanisms are properly enforced. Additionally, implementing least privilege principles for administrative accounts and maintaining up-to-date security patches for Cisco Nexus Dashboard components will significantly reduce the attack surface and prevent exploitation of this vulnerability.