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Field Notice:

Cisco IOS DFS Access List Leakage

=================================================================

Revision 1.2

For release 08:00 AM US/Pacific, Thursday, November 5, 1998



Cisco internal use only until release date.



Summary

=======

Errors in certain Cisco IOS software versions for certain routers can cause

IP datagrams to be output to network interfaces even though access lists

have been applied to filter those datagrams. This applies to routers from

the Cisco 7xxx family only, and only when those routers have been configured

for distributed fast switching (DFS).



There are two independent vulnerabilities, which have been given Cisco bug

IDs CSCdk35564 and CSCdk43862. Each vulnerability affects only a specialized

subset of DFS configurations. Affected configurations are not believed to be

extremely common, but neither are they extremely rare. More details of

affected configurations are in the "Who is Affected" section of this

document.



These vulnerabilities may permit users to send packets to parts of the

customer's network for which they are not authorized. This may permit

unauthorized access or other attacks on customer computer systems or data.

Cisco does not know of any incidents in which these vulnerabilities have

actually been exploited by attackers.



Neither vulnerability affects any Cisco product other than routers in the

70xx, 72xx or 75xx series. Of 70xx routers, only routers with the optional

route-switch processor (RSP) card are affected. Additional configuration

conditions apply.



Who is Affected

===============

These vulnerabilities apply only to the Cisco 7xxx router family. The Cisco

7xxx family are large, rack-mounted backbone routers used primarily by

Internet service providers and in large enterprise networks.



Cisco 75xx routers are affected by both vulnerabilities. Cisco 72xx routers

are affected only by CSCdk35564, and not by CSCdk43862. Cisco 70xx routers

are affected only if they have RSP cards installed.



Although each of the vulnerabilities is different and manifests itself under

different conditions, both involve DFS. DFS is not enabled by default in any

Cisco product, and must be manually configured. If the command ip

route-cache distributed does not appear in your router configuration file,

then you are not affected by either vulnerability.



Specifically, process switching (no ip route-cache), ordinary fast switching

(ip route-cache), optimum switching (ip route-cache optimum), and CEF or

dCEF switching (ip route-cache cef, ip cef distributed switch) are not

affected. Flow switching is considered a form of fast switching, and is

affected only in distributed mode. Interactions between flow switching and

access lists reduce, but do not eliminate, the impact of both

vulnerabilities when flow switching is enabled along with DFS.



CSCdk35564 affected configurations

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

CSCdk35564 is a defect in the 11.1CC and 11.1CT releases. Routers running

Cisco IOS software versions other than 11.1CC and 11.1CT are not affected by

CSCdk35564. Cisco 72xx and 75xx routers are affected; Cisco 70xx routers are

not supported with the affected hardware/software combinations.



To be affected by CSCdk35564, your router must be configured to switch

traffic from an interface with DFS enabled to an interface without

DFS enabled. This most commonly happens when routers contain both versatile

interface processor (VIP) interface cards and non-VIP interface cards. Since

DFS is supported only on VIP interfaces, traffic from a VIP to a non-VIP

interface may be going from DFS to non-DFS.



If DFS is enabled on all of the interfaces in your router, then you are not

affected by CSCdk35564. If DFS is not enabled on any interface in your

router, then you are not affected. If you do not use the ip access-group

command to filter outgoing traffic on any non-DFS interfaces, then you are

not affected.



CSCdk43862 affected configurations

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

CSCdk43862 affects 11.1, 11.2, and 11.3 versions of Cisco IOS software on

the Cisco 70xx and 75xx series; see the table later in this document for

details. The Cisco 72xx series is not affected by CSCdk43862, regardless of

the software version in use.



To be vulnerable, your router must be configured to switch traffic from an

input interface with DFS enabled to a logical subinterface of a physical

output interface. The output interface may or may not have DFS enabled; the

important question for the output interface is whether or not subinterfaces

are in use, and whether or not output traffic to subinterfaces is being

filtered.



Subinterfaces are pseudo-interfaces associated with subsets of the traffic

on physical interfaces. For instance, a physical Frame Relay interface might

have a subinterface associated with each Frame Relay PVC. Subinterfaces do

not exist by default; they are created as part of user configuration.

Subinterface numbers always contain periods, as in "Serial 0/1.1". If your

configuration file does not contain any such "dotted" interface numbers,

then you are not vulnerable.



If you do not use the ip access-group command to apply output access-list

filtering to subinterfaces, then you are not vulnerable.



CSCdk43862 causes the access list applied to one subinterface on a physical

interface to be incorrectly used for traffic destined for a different

subinterface. If you use the same access list to filter outbound traffic on

all subinterfaces of any given physical interface, then you are not

vulnerable.



Impact

======

Incorrect access-list filtering may be applied to output packets. Output

access lists are frequently used to implement security filtering, and the

failure of such access lists may permit users to send packets to parts of

the network for which they are not authorized. This, in turn, may permit

them to bypass security restrictions, and to gain access to data or

resources from which they should be excluded.



Neither of the defects described in this notice "fails reliably". The same

access lists, on the same interfaces, may work correctly at some times, and

fail at other times. Because of this, administrators who test their access

lists may be misled into believing that the access lists are providing

effective protection, when in fact they are not.



CSCdk43862 may result in legitimate traffic being filtered out, as well as

in undesired traffic being permitted to pass through the router. CSCdk35564

never filters legitimate traffic; it only permits undesired traffic.



An attacker who had detailed knowledge of these vulnerabilities might be

able to create conditions favorable to unauthorized access being permitted.

However, such activity would probably be unnecessary; even without

deliberate intervention by an attacker, such conditions would be expected to

occur frequently during the operation of most affected networks.



Workarounds

===========

These vulnerabilities can be worked around by disabling DFS on network

interfaces (with no ip route-cache distributed). Be aware that the purpose

of DFS is to transfer computational load from the router's primary CPU to

the CPUs on the VIP cards, and that disabling DFS may therefore cause

overload of the primary CPU. Evaluate your traffic load and CPU usage before

using this workaround.



If all interfaces in the router are DFS-capable, but DFS has for some reason

been enabled only on some of the interfaces, it may be possible to work

around CSCdk35564 by enabling DFS on all interfaces. This will not affect

CSCdk43862.



CSCdk43862 can sometimes be worked around by reconfiguring to use the same

output access list on all the subinterfaces of a physical interface.



Another possible workaround is to redesign the access lists structure on the

router to avoid the need for output access lists on affected interfaces.



Software Versions and Fixes

===========================

CSCdk43862 has a duplicate report, CSCdk43696. The bug ID CSCdk43862 should

be used to refer to this defect.



The following table summarizes the affected Cisco IOS software versions for

both CSCdk35564 and CSCdk43862, and indicates which versions have been

fixed. To use the table, look up the software release you're currently

running (available from the show version command on your router) in the

first column of the table. The other columns of the table tell you which

Cisco IOS software versions from your major release have been fixed, and

which versions Cisco recommends you install.



The table lists both interim versions and regular released versions. Interim

versions receive far less testing, and are generally of less certain

quality, than regular released versions. Cisco recommends installing regular

released software whenever possible. Interim versions are listed for

reference, and for the convenience of customers who must upgrade before

appropriate regular released versions are available.



As always, a fix applied to one regular released version in a major release

means that all later versions of that major release are also fixed. For

instance, 11.2(17) is fixed, so 11.2(18) and later are also fixed.



The table is designed to cover all supported software on all affected Cisco

routers. If you are running distributed fast switching on a 72xx router, a

75xx router, or a 70xx router with an RSP processor, and you are using an

11.1, 11.2, or 11.3 release not listed in the table, please contact the

Cisco TAC for assistance.



+----------+-------------+-----------+-------------+------------+-------------+

|Cisco IOS |Initial CSCdk35564 Fixes |Initial CSCdk43862 Fixes  |Upgrade Path |

|Major     |                         |                          |for 7xxx DFS |

|Release   |Interim      |Regular    |Interim      |Regular     |Users        |

|(only     |(minimal     |(dates are |(minimal     |(dates are  |             |

|7xxx      |testing;     |subject to |testing;     |subject to  |             |

|releases  |urgent       |change)    |urgent       |change)     |             |

|are       |upgrades     |           |updates      |            |             |

|listed)   |only)        |           |only)        |            |             |

+==========+=============+===========+=============+============+=============+

|11.0 and  |Unaffected   |Unaffected |Unaffected   |Unaffected  |Unaffected   |

|earlier,  |             |           |             |            |             |

|all       |             |           |             |            |             |

|variants  |             |           |             |            |             |

+----------+-------------+-----------+-------------+------------+-------------+

|11.1      |Unaffected   |Unaffected |     -       |     -      |Go to 11.1CA |

+----------+-------------+-----------+-------------+------------+-------------+

|11.1CA    |Unaffected   |Unaffected |11.1(22)CA   |11.1(22)CA  |11.1(22)CA or|

|(core ED) |             |           |             |            |later        |

+----------+-------------+-----------+-------------+------------+-------------+

|11.1CC    |11.1(21.2)CC |11.1(21)CC1|11.1(21.2)CC |11.1(21)CC1 |11.1(21)CC1, |

|(CEF ED)  |             |11.1(22)CC |             |11.1(22)CC  |11.1(22)CC or|

|          |             |           |             |            |later        |

+----------+-------------+-----------+-------------+------------+-------------+

|11.1CT    |11.1(21.2)CT |11.1(22)CT |11.1(21.2)CT |11.1(22)CT  |11.1(22)CT or|

|(tag      |             |           |             |            |later        |

|switch    |             |           |             |            |             |

|ED)       |             |           |             |            |             |

+----------+-------------+-----------+-------------+------------+-------------+

|11.2      |Unaffected   |Unaffected |11.2(16.1)   |11.2(17),   |11.2(17) or  |

|          |             |           |             |planned     |later;       |

|          |             |           |             |Jan-1999    |11.2(16.1) or|

|          |             |           |             |            |11.3 if      |

|          |             |           |             |            |11.2(17)     |

|          |             |           |             |            |schedule     |

|          |             |           |             |            |unacceptable |

+----------+-------------+-----------+-------------+------------+-------------+

|11.2F     |Unaffected   |Unaffected |     -       |     -      |Go to 11.3   |

+----------+-------------+-----------+-------------+------------+-------------+

|11.2P     |Unaffected   |Unaffected |11.2(16.1)P  |11.2(17)P,  |11.2(17)P or |

|(platform |             |           |             |planned     |later;       |

|ED)       |             |           |             |Jan-1999    |11.2(16.1)P or

|          |             |           |             |            |11.3 if      |

|          |             |           |             |            |11.2(17)P    |

|          |             |           |             |            |schedule     |

|          |             |           |             |            |unacceptable.|

+----------+-------------+-----------+-------------+------------+-------------+

|11.2BC    |Unaffected   |Unaffected |11.2(16.1)BC |11.2(17)BC, |11.2(17)BC or|

|(CIP ED)  |             |           |             |planned     |later;       |

|          |             |           |             |Jan-1999    |11.2(16.1)BC |

|          |             |           |             |            |if 11.2(17)BC|

|          |             |           |             |            |schedule     |

|          |             |           |             |            |unacceptable.|

+----------+-------------+-----------+-------------+------------+-------------+

|11.3      |Unaffected   |Unaffected |11.3(6.2)    |11.3(7),    |11.3(7) or   |

|          |             |           |             |planned     |later        |

|          |             |           |             |Nov-1998    |             |

+----------+-------------+-----------+-------------+------------+-------------+

|11.3T     |Unaffected   |Unaffected |11.3(6.2)T   |11.3(7)T,   |11.3(7)T or  |

|          |             |           |             |planned     |later        |

|          |             |           |             |Nov-1998    |             |

+----------+-------------+-----------+-------------+------------+-------------+

|11.3NA    |Unaffected   |Unaffected |11.3(6.2)NA  |11.3(7)NA,  |11.3(7)NA or |

|(voice    |             |           |             |Planned     |later;       |

|ED)       |             |           |             |Dec-1998    |11.3(6.2)NA if

|          |             |           |             |            |11.3(7)NA    |

|          |             |           |             |            |schedule     |

|          |             |           |             |            |unacceptable.|

+----------+-------------+-----------+-------------+------------+-------------+

|11.3(2)XA |Unaffected   |Unaffected |     -       |     -      |11.3(7) or   |

|          |             |           |             |            |later        |

+----------+-------------+-----------+-------------+------------+-------------+

|12.0(1)   |Unaffected   |Unaffected |Unaffected   |Unaffected  |Unaffected   |

|and       |             |           |             |            |             |

|later,    |             |           |             |            |             |

|all       |             |           |             |            |             |

|variants  |             |           |             |            |             |

+----------+-------------+-----------+-------------+------------+-------------+



Because of restricted port adapter support, Cisco does not believe that

many, if any, customers are using DFS with 11.1 mainline software. 11.1CA is

recommended for both functionality and stability reasons.



The 11.1(21)CC1 release is a special release of 11.1CC; the 11.1CC release

sequence runs from 11.1(21)CC through 11.1(21)CC1, then to 11.1(22)CC.



11.3(2)XA was a special one-time release based on 11.3(2). The functionality

of 11.3(2)XA was carried into the 11.3(3) release.



Getting Fixed Software

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

Cisco is offering free software updates to correct these defects for all

vulnerable customers, regardless of contract status.



As with any software change, you should check to make sure that your

hardware can support the new software before installing it.  The most common

problem is inadequate RAM. While this is seldom a problem when upgrading

within a major release (say, from 11.2(11)P to 11.2(17)P), it is often an

issue when upgrading between major releases (say, from 11.2(11)P to

11.3(7)T). Further assistance is available on Cisco's Worldwide Web site at

http://www.cisco.com.



Customers with service contracts should obtain new software through their

regular update channels (generally via Cisco's Worldwide Web site).

Customers with service contracts may upgrade to any software release, but

must, as always, remain within the boundaries of the feature sets they have

purchased. Cisco does not recommend upgrading to a new major release without

careful planning.



Customers without service contracts may upgrade only to obtain the bug

fixes; they are not offered upgrades to versions newer than required to

resolve the defects. In general, customers without service contracts will be

restricted to upgrading within a single row of the table above. Customers

without service contracts should get their updates by contacting the  Cisco

TAC. TAC contacts are as follows:



   * +1 800 553 2447 (toll-free from within North America)

   * +1 408 526 7209 (toll call from anywhere in the world)

   * tac@cisco.com



Give the URL of this notice as evidence of your entitlement to a free

update. Free updates for non-contract customers must be requested through

the TAC. Please do not contact either "psirt@cisco.com" or

"security-alert@cisco.com" for software updates.



Exploitation and Public Announcements

=====================================

Cisco knows of no public announcements or discussion of these

vulnerabilities prior to the date of this notice.



CSCdk35564 was found by a Cisco customer during installed-system testing.

CSCdk43862 was found by Cisco during internal testing.



Because of the nature of these vulnerabilities, attackers would rarely be

expected to exploit them directly. In most cases, attackers would simply

find themselves with access to network resources to which administrators

thought they had denied access. Cisco has had no actual reports of malicious

attacks succeeding because of this vulnerability, nor of anyone deliberately

trying to create "vulnerable" conditions.



Status of This Notice

=====================

This is a final field notice. Although Cisco cannot guarantee the accuracy

of all statements in this notice, all the facts have been checked to the

best of our ability. Cisco does not anticipate issuing updated versions of

this notice unless there is some material change in the facts. Should there

be a significant change in the facts, Cisco may update this notice.



Distribution

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

This notice will be posted on Cisco's Worldwide Web site at

http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/770/iosdfsacl-pub.html . In addition to

Worldwide Web posting, the initial version of this notice is being sent to

the following e-mail and Usenet news recipients:



   * cust-security-announce@cisco.com

   * bugtraq@netspace.org

   * first-teams@first.org (includes CERT/CC)

   * first-info@first.org

   * cisco@spot.colorado.edu

   * comp.dcom.sys.cisco

   * nanog@merit.edu

   * Various internal Cisco mailing list



Future updates of this notice, if any, will be placed on Cisco's Worldwide

Web server, but may or may not be actively announced on mailing lists or

newsgroups. Users concerned about this problem are encouraged to check the

URL given above for any updates.



Revision History

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

 Revision 1.0, 00:12 US/Pacific,    First public release candidate version.

 2-NOV-1998                     

 Revision 1.1, 20:08 US/Pacific,    Cosmetic edits.

 2-NOV-1998                     

 Revision 1.2, 08:55 US/Pacific,    More cosmetic edits.

 3-NOV-1998                     



Cisco Security Procedures

=========================

Please report security issues with Cisco products, and/or sensitive security

intrusion emergencies involving Cisco products, to security-alert@cisco.com

. Reports may be encrypted using PGP; public RSA and DSS keys for

"security-alert@cisco.com" are on the public PGP keyservers.



The alias "security-alert@cisco.com" is used only for reports incoming to

Cisco. Mail sent to the list goes only to a very small group of users within

Cisco. Neither outside users nor unauthorized Cisco employees may subscribe

to "security-alert@cisco.com".



Please do not use "security-alert@cisco.com" for configuration questions,

for security intrusions that you do not consider to be sensitive

emergencies, or for general, non-security-related support requests. We do

not have the capacity to handle such requests through this channel, and will

refer them to the TAC, delaying response to your questions. We advise

contacting the TAC directly with these requests. TAC contact numbers are as

follows:



   * +1 800 553 2447 (toll-free from within North America)

   * +1 408 526 7209 (toll call from anywhere in the world)

   * tac@cisco.com



All formal public security notices generated by Cisco are sent to the public

mailing list "cust-security-announce@cisco.com". For information on

subscribing to this mailing list, send a message containing the single line

"info cust-security-announce" to "majordomo@cisco.com". An analogous list,

"cust-security-discuss@cisco.com" is available for public discussion of the

notices and of other Cisco security issues.



Press contacts

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

Press inquiries regarding Cisco security notices should be directed to Doug

Wills, dwills@cisco.com, +1 408 527 9475.



=================================================================

This notice is copyright 1998 by Cisco Systems, Inc. This notice may be

redistributed freely after the release date given at the top of the text,

provided that redistributed copies are complete and unmodified, including

this copyright notice and all date and version information.

=================================================================









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