Cisco Patches IOS in Response to Boffins' IKE-Busting Breakthrough

Switchzilla issues update for authentication bypass flaw
Cisco has pushed out an update for its internetwork operating system (IOS) and IOS XE firmware in advance of a Usenix presentation on circumventing cryptographic key protocol.
The networking behemoth is advising all customers running hardware that uses IOS and IOS XE to get the updates that address CVE-2018-0131, a security bypass vulnerability stemming from a weakness in the Internet Key Exchange (IKEv1) protocol.
Researchers Dennis Felsch, Martin Grothe, Jörg Schwenk, Adam Czubak, and Marcin Szymanek from Ruhr-University Bochum and University of Opole found [PDF] that an attacker could contact a device with ciphertext requests that, under the right circumstances, could cause the target device to disclose the encrypted nonces (single-use numbers for encryption keys) and potentially lead to the keys being broken.
The group, who plan to share their findings later this week at the conference, wrote that "reusing a key pair across different versions and modes of IKE can lead to cross-protocol authentication bypasses, enabling the impersonation of a victim host or network by attackers."
The attack would potentially be carried out either by eavesdropping on IP sessions or by performing a man-in-the-middle compromise and injecting code into packets.
The researchers say that, by deliberately sending bad cipher requests to the vulnerable machines, they could receive enough data to create a type of Bleichenbacher's Oracle [PDF] attack on the keys. This would, given enough time, would potentially allow the attacker to decrypt shared keys and get around encryption protections.
The researchers noted that they have already disclosed their findings to Cisco and other vendors impacted by the issue, and all are believed to have issued patches for vulnerable products prior to the publication of the paper.
Cisco says in its advisory that, short of moving off of IKEv1, there are no workarounds for the vulnerability. Switchzilla is advising anyone using an IOS or IOS XE device that is configured with the 'authentication rsa-encr' option turned on to update their firmware and make sure they have the patched IOS version.
The latest available version will vary based on device and model, but in general IOS versions 15.5(3)M7.2 and later will be protected.
Source: theregister

Latest Jobs
-
- Contract SailPoint Programme Manager - UK 12 month+ project
- United Kingdom
- N/A
-
Programme manager with SailPoint IdentityIQ IAM experience is needed for a 12 month rolling contract. To engage and manage a enterprise client programme of work focused around SailPoint. This is a hybrid role, some limited travel to London / Reading maybe required. You must have enterprise level programme management, a focused and recent history within Identity and Sailpoint project experience. Exclusive project, interview immediately.
-
- Outside IR 35 contract- Threat & vulnerability analyst - SC CLEARED UK REMOTE
- N/A
- £550
-
6 month rolling contract Outside IR35- immediate start. Threat and Vulnerability Analyst. Tenable.sc experience needed. The ability to deploy agent, configure environments, run active and passive scans, produce reports and prioritise remediation activities based on output Current and ACTIVE clearance is required
-
- Chief Information Security Officer- CISO. London
- London
- N/A
-
Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) is needed to join a senior leadership team that is driving change across a London based FTSE business. You will have responsibility and accountability to define and execute an information & Cyber Security strategy. To be successful you should have the following experience; Experience defining, presenting and executing against your information AND cyber security strategy. Experience delivering / managing functions across information security GRC / Audit and technical Cyber Security capabilities. Senior stakeholder management to the executive committee. Embedding Info / cyber security within a Cloud focused environment. Further develop, expand and mature the information / cyber security function | team. Be able to regularly commute to London Financial services experience is desirable. If this sounds like an opportunity you are interested in then please use the below form to schedule a call. This is an exclusive project to DCL Search. All conversations are kept in confidence.
-
- IAM Business Analyst- ForgeRock
- European Union
- £500 per day
-
IAM Business Analyst with ForgeRock experience is need for a 12 months contract The client is in the middle of a large scale ForgeRock deployment and the BA will sit between the technical teams and the business helping to ensure the project is a success You will need to be a strong business communicator and have experience of mapping business needs against ForgeRock features This will be a remote project dealing with teams in different geographies, you must have strong English communications skills and be happy working remotely and able to be proactive to ensure your side of the project is a success