Cisco has released software updates to address critical and high severity vulnerabilities affecting the company’s FirePOWER and TelePresence products.
According to the networking giant, the XML API of the TelePresence Codec (TC) and Collaboration Endpoint (CE) software is plagued by a critical vulnerability that allows a remote, unauthenticated attacker to bypass authentication and gain access to a targeted system.
The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2016-1387, can be exploited by sending a specially crafted HTTP request to the XML API. If the exploit is successful, the attacker can use the API to make configuration changes and issue control commands.
Cisco has also published advisories to describe a couple of high severity denial-of-service (DoS) vulnerabilities affecting the FirePOWER system software.
One of the flaws, identified as CVE-2016-1368, allows a remote attacker to cause a system to stop inspecting and processing packets by sending it a specially crafted packet. The issue affects several appliances running FirePOWER system software versions 5.3.0 – 5.3.0.6 and 5.4.0 – 5.4.0.3.
The second DoS vulnerability (CVE-2016-1369) affects all versions of the FirePOWER system software used in ASA 5585-X FirePOWER SSP modules. The flaw, caused by the logging of certain IP packets, allows an attacker to cause the module to go offline or stop inspecting traffic.
All of these vulnerabilities have been identified by Cisco and the company says there is no evidence that any of them have been exploited for malicious purposes.
US-CERT has published an alert to inform Cisco customers about these vulnerabilities. The agency has advised users and administrators to review the security advisories and apply the updates.
Cisco also informed customers on Wednesday that it’s trying to determine which of its products are affected by the OpenSSL vulnerabilities patched this week.
Related: Cisco Releases Critical Security Updates
Related: Unpatched Flaw Plagues Cisco Industrial Switches
Related: Cisco Patches Critical, High Severity Flaws in NX-OS

Eduard Kovacs (@EduardKovacs) is a contributing editor at SecurityWeek. He worked as a high school IT teacher for two years before starting a career in journalism as Softpedia’s security news reporter. Eduard holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial informatics and a master’s degree in computer techniques applied in electrical engineering.
More from Eduard Kovacs
- High-Severity Privilege Escalation Vulnerability Patched in VMware Workstation
- GoAnywhere MFT Users Warned of Zero-Day Exploit
- UK Car Retailer Arnold Clark Hit by Ransomware
- EV Charging Management System Vulnerabilities Allow Disruption, Energy Theft
- Unpatched Econolite Traffic Controller Vulnerabilities Allow Remote Hacking
- Google Fi Data Breach Reportedly Led to SIM Swapping
- Microsoft’s Verified Publisher Status Abused in Email Theft Campaign
- British Retailer JD Sports Discloses Data Breach Affecting 10 Million Customers
Latest News
- US Downs Chinese Balloon Off Carolina Coast
- Microsoft: Iran Unit Behind Charlie Hebdo Hack-and-Leak Op
- Feds Say Cyberattack Caused Suicide Helpline’s Outage
- Big China Spy Balloon Moving East Over US, Pentagon Says
- Former Ubiquiti Employee Who Posed as Hacker Pleads Guilty
- Cyber Insights 2023: Venture Capital
- Atlassian Warns of Critical Jira Service Management Vulnerability
- High-Severity Privilege Escalation Vulnerability Patched in VMware Workstation
