CPDs or Cisco Discovery Protocol vulnerabilities have seemingly created threats in the enterprise networks as more than tens of millions of devices, including phones, computers, cameras, and network plugins, are at risk. The collection of five different glitches in the security discovery protocol that has impacted more than millions of machines.
Cisco Discovery Protocol Vulnerability Lets Hackers target Tens of Millions of Workstations
Cisco Discovery Protocol is a protocol of level Two, which is used to retrieve information regarding the Cisco types of equipment connected nearby. The flaw was discovered by the researchers, which could potentially help the hackers to take control of the devices within the network without any direct human intervention. The hacking can be done simply by sending malicious CDP packets to the remote machine.
CDP Vulnerabilities: A Serious Threat
As per the research firm Armis, the flaw found in the CDP can allow the hackers to do collateral damage to the organizations and institutions by targeting the network switch. The network switch enables the flow of the humungous quantity of corporate data, which may not be encrypted. The Hackers can take control of the devices and can shut the desk phones and web cameras remotely and even use the tools to sneak into the organizations and misuse the information.
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Armis reported flaws to Cisco Months Ago
Armis agency had shared the findings of the glitches with Cisco a few months back in August last year. However, the networking giant is now releasing the patches in its software to fix the vulnerabilities. On February 5, 2020, it announced that it is releasing the fixes for the disclosed vulnerabilities; however, it has not found any use of the vulnerability or associated abuse of glitches.
Official Announcement by Cisco
The official announcement said On February 5, we disclosed vulnerabilities in the Cisco Discovery Protocol implementation of several Cisco products along with software fix information and mitigation, where available.
Ben Seri Shares his Views
Ben Seri, the Vice President of Research, Armis said that Network segmentation is a crucial way to secure IoT devices. He further added,
“The findings of this research are significant as Layer 2 protocols are the underpinning for all networks, and as an attack surface are an under-researched area and yet are the foundation for the practice of network segmentation”.
Cisco Looking for Damage Control
The Five Vulnerabilities are a cause of concern for the networking giant, and the company is looking for measures to mitigate the probable risk by releasing patches.