Security researchers warned that a vulnerability that lies in a subset of Cisco Systems’ VPN routers typically used by small businesses could allow for remote and unauthenticated attackers to take control of a device. According to researchers, there are at least 8,800 systems that are vulnerable due to the security flaw. Cisco addressed the bugs in a series of patches rolled out last week, and security professionals recommend that these are implemented as soon as possible to avoid further risks. The patches also fixed injection vulnerability, privilege escalation vulnerability, and remote command execution vulnerabilities in several Cisco products.
The bugs exist in the web management interface for devices. The flaw has been allocated a CVSS severity score of 9.8 due to improper validation of HTPP requests. Tenable released a security analysis regarding the attack on Thursday, stating that an unauthenticated attacker could effectively exploit the vulnerability by creating a specially crafted HTTP request and sending it to a vulnerable device. This would result in arbitrary code execution and the ability to reload the device, leading to a denial of service (DoS).
Read More: Critical Cisco Bug in VPN Routers Allows Remote Takeover