Cisco IOS XE SD-WAN Software Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

A vulnerability in the Cisco IOS XE SD-WAN Software CLI could allow an authenticated, local attacker to elevate privileges and execute arbitrary code on the underlying operating system as the root user. An attacker must be authenticated on an affected device as a PRIV15 user.

This vulnerability is due to insufficient file system protection and the presence of a sensitive file in the bootflash directory on an affected device. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by overwriting an installer file stored in the bootflash directory with arbitrary commands that can be executed with root-level privileges. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to read and write changes to the configuration database on the affected device.

Cisco has released software updates that address this vulnerability. There are no workarounds that address this vulnerability.

This advisory is available at the following link:
https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-iosxesdwan-privesc-VP4FG3jD [“https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-iosxesdwan-privesc-VP4FG3jD”]

This advisory is part of the September 2021 release of the Cisco IOS and IOS XE Software Security Advisory Bundled Publication. For a complete list of the advisories and links to them, see Cisco Event Response: September 2021 Semiannual Cisco IOS and IOS XE Software Security Advisory Bundled Publication. [“https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/viewErp.x?alertId=ERP-74581”]