Cisco IOS Software Zero-day Exploited in Attacks

Cisco has issued fixes to address a vulnerability in the GET VPN feature of IOS and IOS XE software that has been exploited in attacks.

A remote attacker who has administrative access to a group member or a key server can exploit this vulnerability to run arbitrary code or bring down an affected device.

Cisco GET VPN is a set of features required for secure IP multicast group communication or unicast traffic over a private WAN that originates or flows through a Cisco IOS device. 

GET VPN integrates the group key management protocol with IPsec encryption to offer users an efficient way to secure IP multicast or unicast communication.

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Details of the Vulnerability

With a CVSS base score of 6.6, the Out-of-Bounds Write Vulnerability reported by Cisco is tracked as CVE-2023-20109 and has a ‘medium’ severity range.

“This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of attributes in the Group Domain of Interpretation (GDOI) and G-IKEv2 protocols of the GET VPN feature”, Cisco said in its advisory.

A hacker could take advantage of this vulnerability by compromising an installed key server or changing a group member’s settings to point to a key server under the attacker’s control.

If the exploit is successful, the attacker may be able to run arbitrary code and take complete control of the target system, or they may force the target system to reload and create a DoS.

Affected Products

If a Cisco product had the GDOI or G-IKEv2 protocol enabled and was running a vulnerable version of the Cisco IOS software or Cisco IOS XE software, it is considered vulnerable.

Products Not Vulnerable

• IOS XR Software
• Meraki products
• NX-OS Software

This vulnerability, according to Cisco, can only be exploited in one of two ways:

• The attacker compromises the existing key server and gains access to the GDOI or G-IKEv2 packets sent by the key server to the group member.
• The attacker creates and installs their own key server and then reconfigures the group member to interact with the attacker-controlled key server.

Mitigation Measures

As stated in the advisory, Cisco recommends that affected users apply software updates as early as possible.

Cisco confirmed that there are no workarounds that address this vulnerability.

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