Summary

• A vulnerability in the Cisco Adaptive Security Device Manager (ASDM) Launcher could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on a user's operating system.

  This vulnerability is due to a lack of proper signature verification for specific code exchanged between the ASDM and the Launcher. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by leveraging a man-in-the-middle position on the network to intercept the traffic between the Launcher and the ASDM and then inject arbitrary code. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary code on the user's operating system with the level of privileges assigned to the ASDM Launcher. A successful exploit may require the attacker to perform a social engineering attack to persuade the user to initiate communication from the Launcher to the ASDM.

  Cisco has released software updates that address this vulnerability. There are no workarounds that address this vulnerability.

  This advisory is available at the following link:
  https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-asdm-rce-gqjShXW

Affected Products

• Vulnerable Products

  At the time of publication, this vulnerability affected Cisco ASDM releases earlier than Release 7.18.1.152.

  For information about which Cisco software releases were vulnerable at the time of publication, see the Fixed Software section of this advisory. See the Details section in the bug ID(s) at the top of this advisory for the most complete and current information.

  Products Confirmed Not Vulnerable

  Only products listed in the Vulnerable Products section of this advisory are known to be affected by this vulnerability.

Details

• An attacker could also leverage a man-in-the-middle position to persuade the user to retrieve an arbitrary file as part of the communication between the Launcher and the ASDM. This secondary drive-by download vulnerability has a CVSS score of 3.1 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N) and is addressed by the bug ID at the top of this advisory.

Indicators of Compromise

• Cisco ASDM releases 7.1.18.150 and later with Cisco ASDM-IDM Launcher releases 1.9(4) and later have the following warning message that appears when the Cisco ASDM-IDM Launcher detects that it is connecting to a release of Cisco ASDM that does not have the fix for this vulnerability:

  You are running a version of ASDM that does not include important security fixes.
  Please upgrade to 7.18(1.151) or later.
  
  Do you still want to continue?

  For customers who see this message while connecting to a device that they believe is running a Cisco ASDM release that contains the fix for this vulnerability, it can be an indicator of an ongoing attack. Customers are advised to do the following:

  1. Choose No to end the connection.
  2. Verify that the value in the Device IP Address / Name field of the Cisco ASDM-IDM Launcher does indeed correspond to a known device that is running Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software and Cisco ASDM Software in their network.
  3. Log in to the listed device through the CLI and use the show version | include Device Manager command to determine the configured Cisco ASDM release.

  If this output reports a Cisco ASDM release earlier than Release 7.18.1.152, then the warning message is legitimate and an attack less likely. Cisco still recommends that customers upgrade to Cisco ASDM Release 7.18.1.152 or later to get the fix for this vulnerability. Upgrading would also prevent this warning message in future connection attempts.

  If this output reports Cisco ASDM Release 7.18.1.152 or later, then an ongoing attack is likely and should be further investigated.

Workarounds

• There are no workarounds that address this vulnerability.

Fixed Software

• When considering software upgrades, customers are advised to regularly consult the advisories for Cisco products, which are available from the Cisco Security Advisories page, to determine exposure and a complete upgrade solution.

  In all cases, customers should ensure that the devices to be upgraded contain sufficient memory and confirm that current hardware and software configurations will continue to be supported properly by the new release. If the information is not clear, customers are advised to contact the Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) or their contracted maintenance providers.

  Fixed Releases

  At the time of publication, the release information in the following table(s) was accurate. See the Details section in the bug ID(s) at the top of this advisory for the most complete and current information.

  The left column lists Cisco software releases, and the right column indicates whether a release was affected by the vulnerability that is described in this advisory and which release included the fix for this vulnerability.

  Cisco ASDM Release	First Fixed Release
  7.17 and earlier	Migrate to a fixed release.
  7.18	7.18.1.152

  The Cisco Product Security Incident Response Team (PSIRT) validates only the affected and fixed release information that is documented in this advisory.

Exploitation and Public Announcements

• 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.

Source

• Cisco would like to thank security researcher Malcolm Lashley for reporting these vulnerabilities.

URL

• https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-asdm-rce-gqjShXW

Revision History

• Version	Description	Section	Status	Date
  1.4	Added indicators of compromise.	Indicators of Compromise	Final	2022-AUG-25
  1.3	Updated affected and first fixed release information.	Summary, Vulnerable Products, Fixed Software	Final	2022-AUG-10
  1.2	Added clarifications about future fixes.	Summary and Fixed Software	Final	2021-AUG-05
  1.1	Updated the vulnerable releases.	Vulnerable Products	Final	2021-JUL-13
  1.0	Initial public release.	—	Final	2021-JUL-07

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