Cisco patches autonomic networking flaws in IOS routers and switches

Cisco Systems released firmware updates for several routers and switches that run its IOS and IOS XE software in order to fix flaws in their autonomic networking infrastructure (ANI) feature.

ANI is an automatic device management feature that allows Cisco IOS devices to securely join a domain and be configured without prestaging—setting up the necessary accounts in advance.

Cisco’s new patches, released Wednesday, address three vulnerabilities in the way Cisco IOS and IOS XE devices handle autonomic networking (AN) messages.

One vulnerability could allow a remote unauthenticated attacker to force a vulnerable device to join a rogue autonomic domain by sending it specially crafted AN messages. This would give the attacker limited control over the device and would prevent it from joining the legitimate domain, Cisco said in a security advisory.

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