Cisco Security Advisory
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AV:R/AC:L/Au:NR/C:N/I:N/A:C/B:N/E:F/RL:O/RC:C
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Cisco Unified CallManager and Unified Presence Server contain a vulnerability that could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition.
The vulnerability exists due to improper handling of excessive amounts of ICMP echo requests. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a large number of ICMP echo requests to a CallManager or Presence Server system. These requests may cause various services to crash, resulting in a DoS condition and affecting voice services.
Cisco confirmed this vulnerability in a security advisory and released updates.
Cisco Unified CallManager is the call-processing component of the Cisco IP telephony solution, and the Unified Presence Server is the identity-tracking component of the telephony solution. The vulnerability resides in the way these components handle ICMP echo requests. By sending a large amount of ICMP echo requests to an affected system, attackers can exploit this vulnerability to crash a system, causing a disruption of voice services. This vulnerability can also be exploited by spoofed attacks.
Exploit code is not needed to conduct an attack of this type, which is mainly a brute-force attack. There are many network utility software packages that can aid in the attempted attack, flooding the network and the specific device with ping requests. These utilities can be commercial or open source, making access to them available to anyone who downloads them.
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Cisco has released a security advisory for Cisco Bug IDs CSCsg60930 and CSCsf12698 at the following link: cisco-sa-20070328-voip
Vulnerable Products
The following Cisco products are vulnerable:
- Cisco Unified CallManager 5.0 versions prior to 5.0(4a)SU1
- Cisco Unified Presence Server 1.0 versions prior to 1.0(3)
Products Confirmed Not Vulnerable
No other Cisco products are currently known to be affected by these vulnerabilities.
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Administrators are advised to apply the appropriate updates.
Administrators may consider blocking ICMP echo requests; however, this will affect network management applications and troubleshooting procedures.
Administrators are advised to put IP telephony systems on an insulated network and to physically secure this network.
The Cisco Applied Intelligence team has created the following companion document to guide administrators in identifying and mitigating attempts to exploit this vulnerability prior to applying updated software: Identifying and Mitigating Exploitation of Multiple Cisco Unified CallManager and Presence Server Vulnerabilities
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Cisco customers with active contracts can obtain updates through the Software Center at the following link: Cisco. Cisco customers without contracts can obtain upgrades by contacting the Cisco Technical Assistance Center at 1-800-553-2447 or 1-408-526-7209 or via e-mail at tac@cisco.com.
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The Cisco Product Security Incident Response Team (PSIRT) is not aware of any public announcements or malicious use of the vulnerability that is described in this advisory.
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To learn about Cisco security vulnerability disclosure policies and publications, see the Security Vulnerability Policy. This document also contains instructions for obtaining fixed software and receiving security vulnerability information from Cisco.
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Show LessVersion Description Section Status Date 1.1 Updated links to related resources Multiple Final 2015-November-25 1.0 Initial release NA Final 2007-March-28
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