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The CiscoWorks VPN/Security Management Solution (VMS) is a network management application that includes Web-based tools for configuring, monitoring, and troubleshooting VPNs, firewalls, network intrusion detection systems (NIDSs), network intrusion prevention systems (NIPSs) and host intrusion prevention systems (HIPSs). CiscoWorks VMS also includes network device inventory, change audit, and software distribution features.
An issue exists in one of the components of the Cisco Management Center for IPS Sensors (IPS MC) v2.1 during the generation of the Cisco IOS IPS (Intrusion Prevention System) configuration file that may result in some signatures belonging to certain classes being disabled during the configuration deployment process.
Cisco has made a free software patch available to address this vulnerability for affected customers.
This advisory is posted at https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-20051101-ipsmc.
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Vulnerable Products
- Cisco IOS IPS devices that have been configured by IPS MC v2.1.
Products Confirmed Not Vulnerable
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Cisco IOS IPS devices that have NOT been configured by IPS MC v2.1.
This category includes Cisco IOS IPS devices that have been configured by using
any of the following methods:
- Cisco IDS MC (Management Center for IDS Sensors)
- Cisco SDM (Security Device Manager)
- Cisco IOS CLI (Command Line Interface)
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Any other Cisco IDS/IPS solution, configured by either Cisco IPS MC
v2.1, Cisco IDS MC (any version), Cisco SDM (any version) or by using the Cisco
IOS CLI. These include:
- Cisco IOS IDS
- Cisco PIX/ASA IDS
- Cisco IPS 4200 Series Sensors
- Cisco Catalyst 6500/7600 Series Intrusion Detection System (IDSM-2) Module
- Cisco IDS Network Module (NM-CIDS-K9)
- Cisco ASA Advanced Inspection and Prevention (AIP) Security Services Module
No other Cisco products are currently known to be affected by these vulnerabilities.
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Some Cisco routers running Cisco IOS include a feature called Cisco IOS IPS. The Cisco IOS IPS acts as an in-line intrusion protection sensor, watching packets and sessions as they flow through the router and scanning each packet to match any of the Cisco IOS IPS signatures that have been enabled on the device configuration. When it detects suspicious activity, it responds before network security can be compromised and logs the event through Cisco IOS syslog messages or Security Device Event Exchange (SDEE). The network administrator can configure Cisco IOS IPS to choose the appropriate response to various threats.
Customers can use multiple methods, including Cisco IPS MC, Cisco IDS MC, Cisco SDM and the Cisco IOS CLI, to enable, disable and configure Cisco IOS IPS signatures. Some signatures dealing with TCP or UDP traffic analyze traffic destined to specific ports. Those ports are pre-configured with default values, and some signatures might allow changes to the list of ports to be monitored.
If the Cisco IOS IPS devices have been configured by using the Cisco IPS MC v2.1, the Cisco IPS MC might download a configuration file to the device that does not contain a value for the port field in one or more signatures, resulting in the affected Cisco IOS IPS device disabling those signatures. Only signatures using either the STRING.TCP or STRING.UDP signature micro-engine (SME) are affected by this vulnerability. Additionally, this behavior only happens if those signatures were enabled and configured from the Cisco IPS MC GUI ; signatures belonging to the STRING.TCP or STRING.UDP SMEs that were previously configured on the device and imported into the Cisco IPS MC will not experience this issue.
The list of signatures currently loaded into a Cisco IOS IPS device and their status can be obtained by executing the show ip ips signatures command. The following abbreviated output shows signatures currently loaded into the device, both enabled and disabled:
Router#show ip ips signatures Builtin signatures are configured Signatures were last loaded from flash:128MB.sdf Cisco SDF release version 128MB.sdf v4 Trend SDF release version V0.0 *=Marked for Deletion Action=(A)larm,(D)rop,(R)eset Trait=AlarmTraits MH=MinHits AI=AlarmInterval CT=ChokeThreshold TI=ThrottleInterval AT=AlarmThrottle FA=FlipAddr WF=WantFrag Signature Micro-Engine: OTHER (4 sigs) SigID:SubID On Action Sev Trait MH AI CT TI AT FA WF Version ----------- -- ------ ---- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -- -- -- ------- 1201:0 Y A HIGH 0 0 0 30 15 FA N N 2.2.1.5 1202:0 Y A HIGH 0 0 0 100 15 FA N N 2.2.1.5 1203:0 Y A HIGH 0 0 0 30 15 FA N N 2.2.1.5 3050:0 Y A HIGH 0 0 0 0 15 FA N 1.0 Signature Micro-Engine: STRING.ICMP (1 sigs) SigID:SubID On Action Sev Trait MH AI CT TI AT FA WF Version ----------- -- ------ ---- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -- -- -- ------- 2156:0 Y A MED 0 0 0 0 15 FA N S54 Signature Micro-Engine: STRING.UDP (16 sigs) SigID:SubID On Action Sev Trait MH AI CT TI AT FA WF Version ----------- -- ------ ---- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -- -- -- ------- 4060:0 Y A MED 0 0 0 0 15 FA N S10 4060:1 Y A MED 0 0 0 0 15 FA N S173 4607:0 Y A HIGH 0 0 0 0 15 FA N S30 4607:1 Y A HIGH 0 0 0 0 15 FA N S30 4607:2 Y A HIGH 0 0 0 0 15 FA N S30 4607:3 Y A HIGH 0 0 0 0 15 FA N S30 4607:4 Y A HIGH 0 0 0 0 15 FA N S30 4608:0 N A HIGH 0 1 0 0 15 FA N S30 4608:1 Y A HIGH 0 1 0 0 15 FA N S30 4608:2 Y A HIGH 0 1 0 0 15 FA N S30 11000:0 N A LOW 0 0 0 0 15 FA N S37 11000:1 Y A LOW 0 0 0 0 15 FA N S37 11000:2 Y A LOW 0 0 0 0 15 FA N S136 11207:0 Y A INFO 0 0 0 0 15 FA N S139 11208:0 Y A INFO 0 0 0 0 15 FA N S139 11209:0 Y A INFO 0 0 0 0 15 FA N S139 Signature Micro-Engine: STRING.TCP (60 sigs) SigID:SubID On Action Sev Trait MH AI CT TI AT FA WF Version ----------- -- ------ ---- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -- -- -- ------- 3116:0 Y A HIGH 0 1 0 0 15 FA N S12 3117:0 N A LOW 0 1 0 0 15 FA N S13 3117:1 Y A LOW 0 1 0 0 15 FA N S13 3120:0 Y A LOW 0 1 0 0 15 FA N S13 3120:1 Y A LOW 0 1 0 0 15 FA N S13 3132:0 Y A HIGH 0 1 0 0 15 FA N S67 3132:1 Y A HIGH 0 1 0 0 15 FA N S67 3135:0 Y A HIGH 0 1 0 0 15 FA N S73 3137:1 Y A HIGH 0 1 0 0 15 FA N S83 3137:2 Y A HIGH 0 1 0 0 15 FA N S128 3141:0 Y A HIGH 0 1 0 0 15 FA N S94 3142:1 Y A HIGH 0 1 0 0 15 FA N S92 3152:0 Y A MED 0 1 0 0 15 FA N 2.1.1 3450:0 Y A LOW 0 1 0 0 15 FA N 1.0 5570:0 Y A R HIGH 0 1 0 0 15 FA N S185 5571:0 Y A R HIGH 0 1 0 0 15 FA N S185 9479:0 Y A HIGH 0 1 0 0 15 FA N S104 9480:0 Y A HIGH 0 1 0 0 15 FA N S104 9481:0 Y A HIGH 0 1 0 0 15 FA N S104 9482:0 Y A HIGH 0 1 0 0 15 FA N S104 9483:0 Y A HIGH 0 1 0 0 15 FA N S104 --More--
Any signature with a capital N under the 'On' column is DISABLED, while any signature with a capital Y under the same column is ENABLED. In this example, signatures 4608:0 and 11000:0 (belonging to the STRING.UDP SME), and signature 3117:0 (belonging to the STRING.TCP SME) are listed as disabled. For each signature listed as disabled in the output of the show ip ips signatures command, a corresponding ip ips signature <SigID> <SubsigID> disable command should be visible on the running configuration. This is an example of the show running-configuration command, using a filter to only display configuration lines belonging to signatures that have been disabled:
Router#show running-config | include ip ips signature .* disable ip ips signature 11000 0 disable ip ips signature 4608 0 disable ip ips signature 3117 0 disable Router#
This vulnerability is documented in the Cisco Bug Toolkit as Bug ID CSCsc33696 (registered customers only)
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There are no recommended workarounds for this vulnerability. Please see the Obtaining Fixed Software section for appropriate solutions to resolve this vulnerability.
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When considering software upgrades, please also consult http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/products_security_advisories_listing.html 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") for assistance.
Cisco has developed a software fix for this vulnerability. Once the fix is applied to a VMS server running IPS MC v2.1, the IPS MC will correctly populate the port field attached to a signature using either the STRING.TCP or STRING.UDP SME. Additional steps will be required to be performed. Please read the README file published together with the software fix.
In order to obtain this software fix, customers should access the VMS Software download page for IDS MC and IPS MC, available at http://www.cisco.com/pcgi-bin/tablebuild.pl/mgmt-ctr-ids-app. The fix consists of the following three files:
- idsmdc2.1.0-win-CSCsc336961.tar - this file contains the fix itself for IPS MC v2.1 running on the Windows operating system.
- CSCOids2.1.0-sol-CSCsc336961.tar - this file contains the fix itself for IPS MC v2.1 running on the Solaris operating system.
- CSCsc33696-w2k-README.txt - this file contains instructions on how to apply the software fix to an affected IPS MC v2.1 installation on Windows, and any needed pre and post installation tasks to be carried out by the user.
- CSCsc33696-sol-README.txt - this file contains instructions on how to apply the software fix to an affected IPS MC v2.1 installation on Solaris, and any needed pre and post installation tasks to be carried out by the user.
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The Cisco PSIRT is not aware of any public announcements or malicious use of the vulnerability described in this advisory.
This vulnerability was reported to Cisco by a customer.
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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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Revision 1.1
3-November-2005
Updated information in the Software Versions and Fixes section.
Revision 1.0
1-November-2005
Initial public release
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