jim_duffy
Managing Editor

Cisco PGW softswitch susceptible to crash, DoS

Analysis
May 13, 20102 mins

Advisory spells out vulnerabilities to SIP, MGCP implementations

Cisco’s PGW 2200 softswitch line is susceptible to multiple vulnerabilities, including system crash and denial of service. The vulnerabilities were disclosed in a Cisco security advisory this week.

The vulnerabilities, nine in all, are related to processing Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) or Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP) messages and each vulnerability is independent of the other, the advisory states. Exploitation of all but one can crash the system, while the other can block creation or acceptance of new TCP connections, creating a DoS situation.

Multiple vulnerabilities exist in the SIP implementation of the softswitches while the MGCP implementation has one, the advisory states.

Cisco says it has released free software updates to address the vulnerabilities. There are no workarounds for them, the advisory states. The glitches were discovered during internal testing, and Cisco says it is not aware of any public announcements or malicious use of them.

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