CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2017-6623 — Cisco Policy Suite security vulnerability

High CVSS 7.8

A vulnerability in a script file that is installed as part of the Cisco Policy Suite (CPS) Software distribution for the CPS appliance could allow an authenticated, local attacker to escalate their privilege level to root. The vulnerability is due to incorrect sudoers permissions on the script file. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by authenticating to the device and providing crafted user input at the CLI, using this script file to escalate their privilege level and execute commands as root. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to acquire root-level privileges and take full control of the appliance. The user has to be logged-in to the device with valid credentials for a specific set of users. The Cisco Policy Suite application is vulnerable when running software versions 10.0.0, 10.1.0, or 11.0.0. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCvc07366.

Severity
High
CVSS
7.8 (3.0)
Published
2017-05-18
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
software/application
Weaknesses
CWE-264, CWE-269

Affected products

  • cisco / policy_suite / 10.0.0
  • cisco / policy_suite / 10.1.0
  • cisco / policy_suite / 11.0.0

Matched remediation archetype

Privilege escalation and unsafe privilege management

This catalog composition supplies bounded fallback guidance. Explicitly reviewed curated workflows load with the complete record below.

Check exposure

  • Map service accounts, operating-system identities, roles, capabilities, impersonation, set-user transitions, and administrative helper paths.
  • Determine whether untrusted users or lower-privilege processes can reach the affected transition or modify inputs it trusts.
  • Review file, socket, registry, device, job, container, and cloud-role permissions used before and after privilege changes.

Remediate safely

  • Apply the supported fix and redesign privileged operations as a minimal, authenticated, allowlisted interface.
  • Drop privileges before processing untrusted input, verify the drop succeeds, and remove unnecessary roles, capabilities, and write permissions.
  • Validate ownership and permissions at time of use and add explicit lower-to-higher privilege boundary tests.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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