Cisco Nexus 7000 Devices Virtual Device Context Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

A privilege escalation vulnerability in the Python scripting subsystem of Cisco Nexus 7000 devices that have been configured with multiple virtual device contexts (VDCs) could allow an authenticated, local attacker to delete files owned by a different VDC on the device.

The vulnerability exists due to incomplete privilege separation of the Python scripting engine across multiple VDCs. An attacker with administrative privileges in a specific VDC could exploit this vulnerability to remove files owned by a separate VDC. This could result in a denial of service (DoS) condition on the affected device.

Cisco has confirmed the vulnerability; however, software updates are not available.

To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker must have local access and be able to authenticate to the targeted device. In addition, the attacker must have administrative privileges in a specific VDC on the device. These requirements could limit the possibility of a successful exploit.

Cisco would like to thank Jens Krabbenhoeft for discovering and reporting this vulnerability.