Cisco Security Advisory
Cisco IP Video Phone E20 Default Root Account
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AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C/E:H/RL:OF/RC:C
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Cisco TelePresence Software version TE 4.1.0 contains a default account vulnerability that could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to take complete control of the affected device.
The vulnerability is due to an architectural change that was made in the way the system maintains administrative accounts. During the process of upgrading a Cisco IP Video Phone E20 device to TE 4.1.0, an unsecured default account may be introduced. An attacker who is able to take advantage of this vulnerability could log in to the device as the root user and perform arbitrary actions with elevated privileges.
Cisco has released software updates that address this vulnerability.
Workarounds that mitigate this vulnerability are available.
This advisory is available at the following link:
https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-20120118-te
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Cisco TelePresence TE Software runs on Cisco IP Video Phone E20 devices.
Vulnerable Products
Cisco IP Video Phone E20 devices that have been upgraded to TE 4.1.0 are affected.
The TE 4.1.0 release has been deferred from Cisco.com and Tandberg.com, and is no longer available for download. The deferral notice can be found at the following link: Software Deferral Notice
Administrators can determine the version of software running on their device by logging in to the command-line interface (CLI) as the admin user and issuing the xstatus systemunit command and finding the SystemUnit Software Version field.
Example:
$: ssh admin@203.0.113.134
TANDBERG Codec Release TE4.1.0.137456
SW Release Date: 2011-11-18
OK
xstatus systemunit
*s SystemUnit ProductType: "TANDBERG Codec"
*s SystemUnit ProductId: "TANDBERG E20"
*s SystemUnit Uptime: 91273
*s SystemUnit Software Version: "TE4.1.0.137456"
*s SystemUnit Software Name: "s52100"
*s SystemUnit Software ReleaseDate: "2011-11-18"
*s SystemUnit Hardware Module SerialNumber: "M1AD18B023025"
*s SystemUnit Hardware Module MainBoard: "101390-6"
*s SystemUnit Hardware Module BootSoftware: "U-Boot 2010.06-36"
*s SystemUnit State System: Initialized
*s SystemUnit State Subsystem Application: Initialized
*s SystemUnit State Cradle: On
*s SystemUnit State CameraLid: Off
*s SystemUnit ContactInfo: "demo.user@example.com"
*s SystemUnit Bluetooth Devices 1 Name: "9xxPlantronics"
*s SystemUnit Bluetooth Devices 1 Address: "L023:8F:425M3D"
*s SystemUnit Bluetooth Devices 1 Type: 2360324
*s SystemUnit Bluetooth Devices 1 Status: bonded
*s SystemUnit Bluetooth Devices 1 LastSeen: "2011-12-20 11:49:36"
** end
OKProducts Confirmed Not Vulnerable
No other Cisco products are currently known to be affected by this vulnerability.
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Cisco TelePresence TE Software historically has contained a single account that acted as both admin and root. This single super account utilized the same password for both the admin and root authentication and was always enabled. With the introduction of TE 4.1.0, an architectural change was made to help harden the devices by allowing administrators to disable the root account. The intended result of this change is to separate the super account into two accounts, root and admin, while subsequently disabling the root account by default.
It was found that in many cases, customers upgrading from a previous release of TE software to TE 4.1.0 are likely to experience an error condition in which the root account is not properly disabled. This creates a situation in which the root account is accessible via SSH with a default password. It was subsequently discovered that the command implemented to allow an administrator to enable or disable the root account does not function correctly.
Workarounds, are available in the Workarounds section of this document. These workarounds involve changing the root and admin passwords to administrator-defined values.
This vulnerability is documented in Cisco bug ID CSCtw69889 (registered customers only) and has been assigned Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) ID CVE-2011-4659.
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Administrators are advised to reset both the admin and root passwords with the following commands:
Reset Root User Password:rootsettings on
Reset Admin User Password:xcommand systemunit adminpassword set password:Mitigations that can be deployed on Cisco devices within the network are available in the Cisco Applied Intelligence companion document for this advisory: https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoAppliedMitigationBulletin/cisco-amb-20120118-te
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When considering software upgrades, customers are advised to consult the Cisco Security Advisories and Responses archive at http://www.cisco.com/go/psirt and review subsequent advisories 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.
Cisco TelePresence Software version TE 4.1.1 is available on Cisco.com and replaces TE 4.1.0.
Affected Product Affected Version First Fixed Version Cisco TelePresence Software TE 4.x TE 4.1.0 TE 4.1.1
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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.
This vulnerability was discovered internally.
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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 LessRevision 1.0 2012-January-18 Initial Public Release
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