CVE-2021-1452 Cisco IOS XE ROM Monitor Software for Cisco Industrial Switches OS Command Injection Vulnerability

Medium 6.8 Published Updated

Physical attackers can inject commands into ROMMON variables to execute unsigned code and bypass secure boot verification on Cisco industrial switches.

Exploited in the wild
Not known
Login needed
Not needed
Attackable
Local or same network only
Victim action needed
Not needed
Fix
None listed

What is CVE-2021-1452?

CVE-2021-1452 is a medium-severity command injection vulnerability in Cisco IOS XE ROMMON Software, published on 24 Mar 2021. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

A vulnerability in the ROM Monitor (ROMMON) of Cisco IOS XE Software for Cisco Catalyst IE3200, IE3300, and IE3400 Rugged Series Switches, Cisco Catalyst IE3400 Heavy Duty Series Switches, and Cisco Embedded Services 3300 Series Switches could allow an unauthenticated, physical attacker to execute unsigned code at system boot time. This vulnerability is due to incorrect validations of specific function arguments passed to a boot script when specific ROMMON variables are set. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by setting malicious values for a specific ROMMON variable. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute unsigned code and bypass the image verification check during the secure boot process of an affected device. To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker would need to have unauthenticated, physical access to the device or obtain privileged access to the root shell on the device.

Weakness: CWE-78

Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-1452?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Cisco Ios Xe Rom Monitor.

How do I fix CVE-2021-1452?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-1452 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

Upgrade, and pass arguments to programs as a list instead of through a shell. More about Command injection.

Is CVE-2021-1452 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-1452 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Sources

Also known as GHSA-xhfj-h4w3-cwv4.

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