A vulnerability in Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC) could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to gain higher pr
A vulnerability in Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC) could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to gain higher privileges than the account is assigned. The attacker will be granted the privileges of the last user to log in, regardless of whether those privileges are higher or lower than what should have been granted. The attacker cannot gain root-level privileges. The vulnerability is due to a limitation with how Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) grants privileges to remotely authenticated users when login occurs via SSH directly to the local management interface of the APIC. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by authenticating to the targeted device. The attacker's privilege level will be modified to match that of the last user to log in via SSH. An exploit could allow the attacker to gain elevated privileges and perform CLI commands that should be restricted by the attacker's configured role. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCvc34335. Known Affected Releases: 1.0(1e), 1.0(1h), 1.0(1k), 1.0(1n), 1.0(2j), 1.0(2m), 1.0(3f), 1.0(3i), 1.0(3k), 1.0(3n), 1.0(4h), 1.0(4o); 1.1(0.920a), 1.1(1j), 1.1(3f); 1.2 Base, 1.2(2), 1.2(3), 1.2.2; 1.3(1), 1.3(2), 1.3(2f); 2.0 Base, 2.0(1).
- Published
- Aug 17, 2017
- Updated
- Jun 16, 2026
- EPSS
- 1.2% · 66th percentile
- CWE
- CWE-269
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Report tools
Action score
28
Monitor
Low priority for now.
- CVSS
- 28 / 40 · 7.1 / 10
- CISA KEV
- 0 / 30 · Not listed
- EPSS
- 0 / 30 · 1.2%
Affected systems
| Vendor | Product | CPE |
|---|---|---|
| cisco | application policy infrastructure controller | cpe:2.3:a:cisco:application_policy_infrastructure_controller |
Affected versions
NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.
- cisco application policy infrastructure controller1.0(1e)
- cisco application policy infrastructure controller1.0(1h)
- cisco application policy infrastructure controller1.0(1k)
- cisco application policy infrastructure controller1.0(1n)
- cisco application policy infrastructure controller1.0(2j)
- cisco application policy infrastructure controller1.0(2m)
- cisco application policy infrastructure controller1.0(3f)
- cisco application policy infrastructure controller1.0(3i)
- cisco application policy infrastructure controller1.0(3k)
- cisco application policy infrastructure controller1.0(3n)
- cisco application policy infrastructure controller1.0(4h)
- cisco application policy infrastructure controller1.0(4o)
- cisco application policy infrastructure controller1.1(0.920a)
- cisco application policy infrastructure controller1.1(1j)
- cisco application policy infrastructure controller1.1(3f)
- cisco application policy infrastructure controller1.2_base
- cisco application policy infrastructure controller1.2.2
- cisco application policy infrastructure controller1.2(2)
- cisco application policy infrastructure controller1.2(3)
- cisco application policy infrastructure controller1.3(1)
Versions reported by the vendor
Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (cisco). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.
Cisco Systems, Inc. Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC)
- 1.0(1e), 1.0(1h), 1.0(1k), 1.0(1n), 1.0(2j), 1.0(2m), 1.0(3f), 1.0(3i), 1.0(3k), 1.0(3n), 1.0(4h), 1.0(4o), 1.1(0.920a), 1.1(1j), 1.1(3f), 1.2 Base, 1.2(2), 1.2(3), 1.2.2, 1.3(1), 1.3(2), 1.3(2f), 2.0 Base, 2.0(1)affected
Same product
cisco: all recordsOther highest-scoring records for the same primary product.
- CVE-2021-1581Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller Command Injection and File Upload Vulnerabilities36Monitor
- CVE-2021-1579Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller App Privilege Escalation Vulnerability36Monitor
- CVE-2021-1578Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller Privilege Escalation Vulnerability36Monitor
- CVE-2021-1577Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller Arbitrary File Read and Write Vulnerability36Monitor
- CVE-2023-20011Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller and Cisco Cloud Network Controller Cross-Site Request Forgery Vulnerability35Monitor
- CVE-2019-1682Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller Privilege Escalation Vulnerability31Monitor
Remediation
Which version to upgrade to
Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.
No fix version is recorded for this entry. Check the references for vendor advisories.
Exploit status
No known public exploit
No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.
Research context
For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.
Timeline
From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.
No dated events beyond publication.
FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).
Patch and commit links
Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.
No commit or PR link among the references.
Credits
All researchersFinders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.
No credits in the CNA record.
Variant candidates
Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.
No nightly-computed relations.
Chain candidates
An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.
—
Bug bounty scope
No known public program.
Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).
Technical details
Attack conditions
- Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
- A low-privileged account is enough.
- A user must open a link or visit a page.
- Special conditions such as timing or configuration are required.
If successful
- Confidentiality
- high · data can be read
- Integrity
- high · data or configuration can be modified
- Availability
- high · the service can be disrupted
- Attack vector
- Network
- Attack complexity
- High
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality impact
- High
- Integrity impact
- High
- Availability impact
- High
Weakness class (CWE)
CWE-269 · Improper Privilege ManagementCVSS vector
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
nvd-primary
Root cause
To simplify setup, a service account is granted broad, cluster-wide permissions. The principle of least privilege is skipped during installation.
The bug in code
The whole CWE-269 classA representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.
Vulnerable
kind: ClusterRolerules: - apiGroups: ["*"] resources: ["*"] verbs: ["*"]Fixed
kind: Rolemetadata: namespace: lodos-systemrules: - apiGroups: ["apps"] resources: ["deployments"] verbs: ["get", "list", "update"]Attack context
MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.
Noroxi analysis
No Noroxi analysis for this record yet
We don't hand-write analysis for all 385,000+ vulnerabilities; that wouldn't be honest. For notable, high-impact vulnerabilities our team writes the mechanism, detection and remediation steps.
We use this product, ask for helpChange log
No changes recorded on tracked fields yet. Score, KEV, exploit maturity and fix status changes appear here.
References
- www.securityfocus.com/bid/100400
- www.securitytracker.com/id/1039180
- tools.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-20170816-apic1
Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.