Great Circle Associates Firewalls
(July 1996)
 

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Subject: Re: Cisco Router security
From: Paul Ferguson <pferguso @ cisco . com>
Date: Tue, 02 Jul 1996 10:35:14 -0400
To: "Russell L. Jones" <rjones @ access . digex . net>
Cc: "'firewalls @ GreatCircle . COM'" <firewalls @ GreatCircle . COM>

At 12:38 PM 7/1/96 -0400, Russell L. Jones wrote:

>What are the known bugs which leave Cisco routers running the 10.X version
of the management software vulnerable to IP based attacks?
>

The only one that I'm aware of is the fragmentation problem when
the ACK bit is set with 'established' parameter [below].

- paul

[snip]


			  Cisco Security Advisory
			  -----------------------
			Thu Jun  1 16:27:08 PDT 1995

        The following describes a vulnerability in Cisco's IOS software
when the 'established' keyword is used in extended IP access control lists.
This bug can, under very specific circumstances and only with certain IP host
implementations, allow unauthorized packets to circumvent a filtering router.
This vulnerability is present in the following IOS software versions:

	10.3(1) through 10.3(2)
	10.2(1) through 10.2(5)
	10.0(1) through 10.0(9)

and	all previous versions of Cisco software.

If you are running any of these IOS versions on a product that uses IP
extended access lists, and you are using the 'established' keyword in these
lists,  then Cisco strongly recommends that you take immediate action to
remove the vulnerability.  You can determine what version of IOS you
are running by issuing the following command:

        show version

The recommended action is to upgrade to a more recent version of IOS,
or take one of the immediate workaround actions described below.  The
vulnerability is fixed by in the following official software releases:

        10.0(10) or later
	10.2(6)  or later
        10.3(3)  or later

(For reference, the Cisco update identifier for this fix is "CSCdi34061".)

Customers may obtain software upgrades without going through the Cisco's
Technical Assistance Center via Cisco's Customer Information On-Line
service,  instructions for downloading are available at the end
of this message.

You may also contact your Cisco distributor or contact Cisco's
Technical Assistance Center (TAC) for more information.  TAC can be reached
by phone at 800-553-2447, by E-Mail to tac @
 cisco .
 com or via the
World-Wide-Web at http://www.cisco.com.  In Europe you can contact TAC by
phone at 32-2-778-42-42 or via E-Mail to euro-tac @
 cisco .
 com .
 

- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

A)  Description

    A bug in Cisco's extended IP access list implementation can, under
    very specific circumstances, allow a user to bypass IP packet filtering.
    This may permit unintended IP traffic to pass through your firewall
    setup.

    To determine if you are vulnerable, look through your configuration.
    The configuration can be displayed by enabling and then entering the
    command "write term".

    If you see an access list line using a list number in the range of 100
    through 199 that permits or denies TCP traffic and contains the word
    'established' near the end of the line, you may be vulnerable.

    An example line might look like:

    In IOS 10.3:
    access-list 100 permit tcp any any established

    In IOS 10.2 or earlier:
    access-list 100 permit tcp 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.255 0.0.0.0
255.255.255.255           established
						
    If you do not meet this test, then you are not vulnerable.  You
    do not need to do anything.

B)  Workaround

    The following actions will remove the vulnerability:

    -   Rewrite the access list parameters so the 'established' keyword is
	not necessary.  This does not simply mean that you may remove the
	'established' keyword, but rather that you will need to re-design
	your access lists to provide similar functionality without using
	the established mechanism.

    or

    -   Disable the interfaces to which the access list is applied
	using the 'shutdown' interface subcommand:

	example:
	    router(config)#interface ethernet 0
            router(config-if)#shutdown

C)  Solution

    Obtain and install the appropriate release of IOS software as
    described above.  For assistance contact Cisco's TAC.

D)  Technical Comments
    This problem is caused by an obscure but common design flaw, that
    we believe, exists in many router/firewall vendor's packet filtering
    implementations.

    Owners of non-Cisco hardware who use IP packet filtering features similar
    to Cisco's "extended access lists" as part of a firewall system may wish
    to contact their vendor to confirm that this vulnerability does not exist
    in their system.  (Technical discussions about the problem have already
    occured in the appropriate forum.)

    This vulnerability can only be exploited with certain IP host
    implementations (we do not have information on which implementations
    are susceptible).  Cisco suggests that all routers configured to
    filter IP packets based upon the 'established' mechanism be upgraded.

[snip]

--
Paul Ferguson                                           ||        ||
Consulting Engineering                                  ||        ||
Reston, Virginia   USA                                 ||||      ||||
tel: +1.703.716.9538                               ..:||||||:..:||||||:..
e-mail: pferguso @
 cisco .
 com                         c i s c o S y s t e m s


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