Symptom
Cisco Nexus 7000 devices that have been configured with multiple Virtual Device Context (VDC) contain a privilege escalation vulnerability within the Python scripting subsystem
that 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 VDC's. This could allow an attacker with administrative privileges in a
specific VDC to remove files owned by a separate VDC. This could result in a denial of service condition on the affected device.
Conditions
Cisco Nexus 7000 devices running an affected version of Cisco NX-OS software.
Devices configured for multiple Virtual Device Contexts.
Workaround
Restrict access to python related commands to highly trusted users only via AAA policy.
Further Problem Description
Credit:
Cisco would like to thank Jens Krabbenhoeft for discovering and reporting this vulnerability.
PSIRT Evaluation:
The Cisco PSIRT has assigned this bug the following CVSS version 2 score. The Base and Temporal CVSS scores as of the time of evaluation are 4.6/4.4:
http://tools.cisco.com/security/center/cvssCalculator.x?vector=AV:L/AC:L/Au:S/C:N/I:C/A:N/E:F/RL:U/RC:C&version=2.0
CVE ID CVE-2015-4231 has been assigned to document this issue.
Additional information on Cisco's security vulnerability policy can be found at the following URL:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/products_security_vulnerability_policy.html
