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Cisco Security Advisory

Voice Product Vulnerabilities on IBM Servers

Advisory ID: cisco-sa-20040121-voice

http://tools.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-20040121-voice

Revision 1.0

For Public Release 2004 January 21 17:00  UTC (GMT)

Summary

The default installation of Cisco voice products on the IBM platform will install the Director Agent in an unsecure state, leaving the Director services vulnerable to remote administration control and/or Denial of Service attacks. The vulnerabilities can be mitigated by configuration changes and Cisco is providing a repair script that will close the vulnerable ports and put the Director agent in secure state without requiring an upgrade.

This advisory will be available at http://tools.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-20040121-voice.

Affected Products

Vulnerable Products

Cisco voice products running on IBM servers installed with the default configurations are affected if they leave TCP or UDP port 14247 open. To verify this vulnerability, the administrator may open a command window on the server and type netstat -a. If port 14247 is listed, the server is vulnerable to remote administrative control and Denial of Service attacks.

Affected Cisco voice products:

  • Cisco CallManager
  • Cisco IP Interactive Voice Response (IP IVR)
  • Cisco IP Call Center Express (IPCC Express)
  • Cisco Personal Assistant (PA)
  • Cisco Emergency Responder (CER)
  • Cisco Conference Connection (CCC)
  • Cisco Internet Service Node (ISN) running on an IBM with an affected OS version.

Affected IBM-based server model numbers:

  • IBM X330 (8654 or 8674)
  • IBM X340
  • IBM X342
  • IBM X345
  • MCS-7815-1000
  • MCS-7815I-2.0
  • MCS-7835I-2.4
  • MCS-7835I-3.0

Affected OS Versions:

All operating system (OS) versions running on an IBM server prior to OS 2000.2.6, which has not yet been released as of the date of this notice.

Products Confirmed Not Vulnerable

No other Cisco products are currently known to be affected by these vulnerabilities.

Details

The default installations of Cisco voice products on IBM servers will install IBM Director in unsecure state leaving TCP and UDP ports 14247 open. Any Director Server/Console agent can connect over port 14247 to gain administrative level control without requiring authentication. Also, a network security scanner scanning port 14247 can trigger the IBM Director agent process twgipc.exe to use 100% of the CPU until the server is rebooted. These vulnerabilities are documented in the two Cisco bug IDs:

  • CSCed33037 — IBM Director agents default install allows remote access.
  • CSCed23357 — IBM servers with Director agent 2.2 or 3.11 are vulnerable to a DoS.

Vulnerability Scoring Details

Cisco has not provided scores for the vulnerabilities in this advisory based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).  At the time of original publication, CVSS scoring in Cisco security publications was not yet adopted.

Impact

A Cisco voice server with the IBM Director agent in unsecure state is susceptible to administrative level control and Denial of Service attacks.

Administrative level control includes the following functionality: shutdown/power off/restart, remote command shell, file transfer, processes/services/device drivers stop and start, network configuration modification (including domain/workgroup membership), Windows 2000 user account creation, and SNMP configuration modification.

In a Denial of Service attack, an attacker can render the Cisco voice server inoperative with CPU utilization spiking to 100%, and the IBM server must be powered off or rebooted in order to regain control of the machine.

Software Versions and Fixes

When considering software upgrades, also consult http://www.cisco.com/go/psirt and any subsequent advisories to determine exposure and a complete upgrade solution.

In all cases, customers should exercise caution to be certain the devices to be upgraded contain sufficient memory and that current hardware and software configurations will continue to be supported properly by the new release. If the information is not clear, contact the Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) or your contracted maintenance provider for assistance.

The vulnerabilities are specific to Cisco voice products on IBM servers and all vulnerabilities listed in this advisory can be mitigated with the repair script without requiring an upgrade.

The repair script is available at:

http://www.cisco.com/pcgi-bin/tablebuild.pl/cmva-3des


Workarounds

Cisco's repair script adds 3 levels of improved security to the Director agent:

  1. The Director agent no longer listens on TCP or UDP ports 14247 for remote connections from a Director Server. This change prevents the Denial of Service attacks described in the Impact section.
  2. The repair script secures the Director agent such that even if port 14247 is reenabled, the Director agent still would not accept connections from any Director Server.
  3. The Director Agent executable files which are not necessary to the functioning of the program, yet provide high levels of access or control, are completely disabled by this repair script.

Note: If you are using IBM Director Server and Console to monitor the Cisco voice products, this repair script will disable the connection to those IBM servers. The Director agents will still provide pop-up warnings and Event Viewer messages in version 3.11, and SNMP traps to network management software like CiscoWorks IP Telephony Monitor. To regain IBM Director Server monitoring capabilities, IBM Director agent 4.11 will be released in OS Upgrade 2000.2.6 and support can be re-enabled for Director Server after the upgrade to OS version 2000.2.6.

Obtaining Fixed Software

As the mitigation for the vulnerabilities is a repair script, a software upgrade is not required to address the vulnerabilities. However, if you have a service contract, and wish to upgrade to unaffected code, you may obtain upgraded software through your regular update channels once that software is available. For most customers, this means that upgrades should be obtained through the Software Center on Cisco's Worldwide Web site at http://www.cisco.com.

Do not contact psirt@cisco.com or security-alert@cisco.com for software upgrades

Customers with Service Contracts

Customers with contracts should obtain upgraded software through their regular update channels. For most customers, this means that upgrades should be obtained through the Software Center on Cisco's worldwide website at http://www.cisco.com.

Customers Using Third-Party Support Organizations

Customers whose Cisco products are provided or maintained through prior or existing agreements with third-party support organizations, such as Cisco Partners, authorized resellers, or service providers should contact that support organization for guidance and assistance with the appropriate course of action in regards to this advisory.

The effectiveness of any workaround or fix is dependent on specific customer situations, such as product mix, network topology, traffic behavior, and organizational mission. Due to the variety of affected products and releases, customers should consult with their service provider or support organization to ensure any applied workaround or fix is the most appropriate for use in the intended network before it is deployed.

Customers Without Service Contracts

Customers who purchase direct from Cisco but do not hold a Cisco service contract, and customers who purchase through third-party vendors but are unsuccessful in obtaining fixed software through their point of sale should acquire upgrades by contacting the Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC). TAC contacts are as follows.

  • +1 800 553 2447 (toll free from within North America)
  • +1 408 526 7209 (toll call from anywhere in the world)
  • e-mail: tac@cisco.com

Customers should have their product serial number available and be prepared to give the URL of this notice as evidence of entitlement to a free upgrade. Free upgrades for non-contract customers must be requested through the TAC.

Refer to http://www.cisco.com/en/US/support/tsd_cisco_worldwide_contacts.html for additional TAC contact information, including localized telephone numbers, and instructions and e-mail addresses for use in various languages.

Exploitation and Public Announcements

The Cisco PSIRT is not aware of any public announcements or malicious use of the vulnerability described in this advisory.

Status of This Notice: Final

THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" BASIS AND DOES NOT IMPLY ANY KIND OF GUARANTEE OR WARRANTY, INCLUDING THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR USE. YOUR USE OF THE INFORMATION ON THE DOCUMENT OR MATERIALS LINKED FROM THE DOCUMENT IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. CISCO RESERVES THE RIGHT TO CHANGE OR UPDATE THIS DOCUMENT AT ANY TIME.

A stand-alone copy or Paraphrase of the text of this document that omits the distribution URL in the following section is an uncontrolled copy, and may lack important information or contain factual errors.


Distribution

This advisory is posted on Cisco's worldwide website at:

http://tools.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-20040121-voice

In addition to worldwide web posting, a text version of this notice is clear-signed with the Cisco PSIRT PGP key and is posted to the following e-mail and Usenet news recipients.

  • cust-security-announce@cisco.com
  • first-teams@first.org
  • bugtraq@securityfocus.com
  • vulnwatch@vulnwatch.org
  • cisco@spot.colorado.edu
  • cisco-nsp@puck.nether.net
  • full-disclosure@lists.grok.org.uk
  • comp.dcom.sys.cisco@newsgate.cisco.com

Future updates of this advisory, if any, will be placed on Cisco's worldwide website, but may or may not be actively announced on mailing lists or newsgroups. Users concerned about this problem are encouraged to check the above URL for any updates.


Revision History

Revision 1.0

2004-January-21

Initial public release.

Cisco Security Procedures

Complete information on reporting security vulnerabilities in Cisco products, obtaining assistance with security incidents, and registering to receive security information from Cisco, is available on Cisco's worldwide website at http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/products_security_vulnerability_policy.html. This includes instructions for press inquiries regarding Cisco security notices. All Cisco security advisories are available at http://www.cisco.com/go/psirt.


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