Cisco Catalyst Exploitation

Cisco Security Announcement

In March 2017, Cisco announced that over 300 switch models were vulnerable to critical vulnerabilities allowing full device control. This vulnerability was coupled with Vault 7 disclosures about tools for accessing network equipment.

RemediationChallenge

Patching thousands of different switch models is a massive undertaking. Patched versions were announced on May 8, 2017, but deployment remains ongoing.

Exploit Development

The presentation details exploit development for Cisco Cluster Management Protocol vulnerabilities. Despite exploit mitigations like DEP and ASLR, the attack surfaces exist and are exploitable.

Hardening Assessment

Network equipment is often assumed to be more hardened than end systems. Research demonstrates that finding critical vulnerabilities and developing working exploits is feasible through systematic analysis and reverse engineering of the vulnerability.