CVE-2020-3524 MEDIUM

CVE-2020-3524: Cisco IOS XE ROM Monitor Software Vulnerability

Vendor Cisco
Product Cisco IOS XE ROMMON Software
Weakness CWE-284
Published September 24, 2020
Last update November 13, 2024

CVSS base score

6.4/10
Attack vector Physical
Attack complexity High
Privileges required None
User interaction None
Confidentiality High
Integrity High

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.0/AV:P/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

What the vulnerability does

01Description

A vulnerability in the Cisco IOS XE ROM Monitor (ROMMON) Software for Cisco 4000 Series Integrated Services Routers, Cisco ASR 920 Series Aggregation Services Routers, Cisco ASR 1000 Series Aggregation Services Routers, and Cisco cBR-8 Converged Broadband Routers could allow an unauthenticated, physical attacker to break the chain of trust and load a compromised software image on an affected device. The vulnerability is due to the presence of a debugging configuration option in the affected software. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by connecting to an affected device through the console, forcing the device into ROMMON mode, and writing a malicious pattern using that specific option on the device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to break the chain of trust and load a compromised software image on the affected device. A compromised software image is any software image that has not been digitally signed by Cisco.

Key dates

02Disclosure timeline

September 24, 2020 CVE published
November 13, 2024 Record updated