Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller Binary Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

A vulnerability in the installation procedure for Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC) devices could allow an authenticated, local attacker to gain root-level privileges.

The vulnerability is due to incorrect installation and permissions settings for binary files when installing the system software on a device. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by logging in to the device and escalating their privileges. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to gain root-level privileges and take full control of the device.

Cisco has released software updates that address this vulnerability. Workarounds that address this vulnerability are not available.

This advisory is available at the following link: https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-20160921-apic[“https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-20160921-apic”]