Field Notice: FN - 72291 - Cisco Unity Connection: QuoVadis Root CA 2 Decommission Might Affect Smart Licensing Functionality - Workaround Provided

Notice

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

Revision History

Revision	Publish Date	Comments
3.0	18-Aug-22	Updated the Workaround/Solution section and added the Additional Information section
2.1	24-Feb-22	Updated the Problem Description, Background, Problem Symptom, and Workaround/Solution Sections
2.0	03-Feb-22	Updated the Problem Symptom Section
1.0	07-Jan-22	Initial Release

Products Affected

Affected OS Type	Affected Software Product	Affected Release	Affected Release Number	Comments
NON-IOS	Unity Connection Updates	12.0	12.0(1)SU1, 12.0(1)SU2, 12.0(1)SU3, 12.0(1)SU4, 12.0(1)SU5	Includes 12.0(1)
NON-IOS	Unity Connection Updates	12.5	12.5(1), 12.5(1)SU1, 12.5(1)SU2, 12.5(1)SU3, 12.5(1)SU4
NON-IOS	Unity Connection Updates	14	14

Defect Information

Defect ID	Headline
CSCvx40739	QuoVadis root CA decommission on Cisco Unity Connection

Problem Description

For affected versions of the Cisco Unity Connection (CUC) software, some Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates issued from the QuoVadis root certificate authority (CA) trust chain before March 31, 2021, cannot be renewed from this CA. Once those certificates expire on devices or are removed from the Cisco cloud servers, functions such as Smart Licensing will fail to establish secure connections to Cisco and might not operate properly.

Background

The QuoVadis Root CA 2 Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) used by CUC software to issue SSL certificates is subject to an industry-wide issue that affects revocation abilities. Due to this issue, no new QuoVadis Root CA 2 certificates will be issued or renewed by Cisco after March 31, 2021. This affects certificate renewals on devices, Cisco cloud servers, and third-party services.

Certificates issued before the QuoVadis Root CA 2 was decommissioned will continue to be valid. However, the certificates will not renew when they expire on either the device or the Cisco cloud server. This will cause functions such as Smart Licensing to fail to establish secure connections to Cisco cloud servers.

This table shows a summary of the QuoVadis Root CA 2 certificate expiration dates for affected Cisco services.

Cisco Cloud Server	QuoVadis Certificate Expiration Date	Affected Services
tools.cisco.com	February 5, 2022	Smart Licensing
smartreceiver.cisco.com	January 26, 2023	Smart Licensing

Problem Symptom

Expiration of the QuoVadis Root CA 2 certificates affects these services with the associated symptoms.

Affected Services	Symptoms for Affected Services
Smart Licensing	Failure to connect to the server (Details are provided in this section)

 

For CUC, affected versions will be unable to connect to the Smart Licensing services hosted by Cisco. Smart licenses might fail entitlement and reflect an Out of Compliance status.

The features that use Smart Licensing will continue to function for 90 days after the last successful secure connection. Some Smart Licensing symptoms are:

• The CUC server will indicate the last attempt to renew license authorization has failed to communicate with the Smart Licensing server.

  

   

  

   

• The CUC server will show the "Authorization Expired" state if there is no communication with the Smart Licensing server within 90 days.

  

   

• The CUC server will then show the "Out of Compliance" state if there is no communication with the Smart Licensing server and administrators will be unable to provision users until the certification is renewed with IdenTrust.

  

   

  

 

Note: Offline licensing, such as Permanent License Reservation (PLR) and Specific License Reservation (SLR), is not affected by the certificate change on the Smart Licensing server.

For additional information, refer to the Cisco Smart Licensing Guide and the Managing Licenses chapter of the Install, Upgrade, and Maintenance Guide for your specific version of CUC software.

Workaround/Solution

Cisco has migrated from the QuoVadis Root CA 2 to the IdenTrust Commercial Root CA 1 for SSL certificates. Cisco recommends these two options to add the new IdenTrust Commercial Root CA 1 certificate to the CUC.

• Software Upgrade
• Manual Certificate Update

Software Upgrade

For CUC-based devices, upgrade to one of the CUC software versions shown in the table in order to resolve the root CA certificate issue for affected platforms.

Release Version	Fixed Version
CUC 12.0(1) 12.0(1)SU1, 12.0(1)SU2, 12.0(1)SU3, 12.0(1)SU4, 12.0(1)SU5 CUC 12.5(1), 12.5(1)SU1, 12.5(1)SU2, 12.5(1)SU3, 12.5(1)SU4	CUC 12.5.1 SU5 or later
CUC 14.0	CUC 14 SU1 or later

 

If the CUC version is 12.5.1 SU5 or 14 SU1 or later, no action is needed as the new certificate is provided natively.

Manual Certificate Update

For all other CUC 12.0, 12.5, and 14 versions, Cisco recommends to install the COP file on the CUC Publisher to add the new IdenTrust Commercial Root CA 1 certificate to CUC.

1. Follow the directions in the Cisco Unity Connection COP File for SLM CDETS CSCvx40739 document.
2. Download the COP file v1.1.k4.
   • The COP file version has changed from v1.0.k4 to v 1.1.k4 due to the Cisco bug ID CSCwb50904. If you installed ciscocm.slm_quovadis_rootCA_decommission_v1.0.k4.cop.sha512 and you are still not able to get Smart License Manager to connect, it is recommended to install the latest version of the COP file (ciscocm.slm_quovadis_rootCA_decommission_v1.1.k4.cop.sha512).  See the v1.1 COP file readme for additional information.
   • If you installed ciscocm.slm_quovadis_rootCA_decommission_v1.0.k4.cop.sha512 and everything works as expected, no further action is required.

Note: Existing certificates issued from the HydrantID SSL ICA G3 do not need replacement. They are normal certificates issued from the current SSL certificate service and can be used until expiration.

Additional Information

Cisco has created a web page to provide customers and partners with additional information on this issue. Consult the QuoVadis Root CA 2 Decommission page for a full list of products affected, associated Field Notices, and frequently asked questions.

For More Information

If you require further assistance, or if you have any further questions regarding this field notice, please contact the Cisco Systems Technical Assistance Center (TAC) by one of the following methods:

• Open a service request on Cisco.com
• By email or telephone

Receive Email Notification For New Field Notices

My Notifications—Set up a profile to receive email updates about reliability, safety, network security, and end-of-sale issues for the Cisco products you specify.