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Secure Access Control SystemApplication · Cisco

CVE-2014-0678

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v2.0 Published 2014-01-25
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
61/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
The portal interface in Cisco Secure Access Control System (ACS) does not properly manage sessions, which allows remote authenticated users to hijack sessions and gain privileges via unspecified vectors, aka Bug ID CSCue65951.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · moderate confidence

The portal interface in Cisco Secure Access Control System (ACS) contains a session management flaw that allows authenticated remote users to hijack existing sessions. Successful exploitation enables attackers to assume the privileges of other legitimate users through session hijacking, potentially escalating their access rights within the ACS system.

MitigationImplement strict session lifecycle controls including proper session invalidation, secure session identifiers, and appropriate timeout configurations. Apply vendor-provided patches when available and review ACS portal session handling configurations.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Secure Access Control SystemApplication
Affected:all versions

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Authentication
Single
Confidentiality
Partial
Integrity
Partial
Availability
None

AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:P/I:P/A:N

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Verify Cisco ACS installation
    Check if Cisco Secure Access Control System is installed on the system by searching for ACS-related processes, services, or installation directories. Common locations include /opt/CSCOacs or C:\Program Files\Cisco\ACS.
    Affected if Cisco ACS software is found running on the system
  2. Confirm ACS version
    Use the ACS administrative interface or command-line tools to retrieve the installed version. Check the ACS version through the web portal or via the acs command utility if available.
    Affected if Any version of Cisco Secure Access Control System is confirmed (all versions are affected)
  3. Check portal interface exposure
    Determine if the ACS web portal interface is accessible from the network. Verify whether port 443 or 8443 (typical ACS ports) is open and reachable externally or from untrusted networks.
    Affected if The ACS portal interface is network-accessible, particularly from untrusted networks
  4. Review session management configuration
    Access the ACS administrative console and navigate to Session Settings or Policy Configuration. Examine session timeout values, session ID generation settings, and whether secure session cookies are enforced.
    Affected if Session timeouts are excessively long, session IDs are predictable, or secure cookie flags are not enabled
  5. Inspect logs for session anomalies
    Review ACS audit and system logs for indicators of session hijacking such as duplicate concurrent sessions from different IP addresses for the same user, sessions created without prior authentication events, or unexpected session token reuse patterns.
    Affected if Logs show suspicious session patterns, duplicate sessions, or unexpected session activity

A system is affected if Cisco Secure Access Control System is installed with its portal interface accessible, regardless of version, and session management is not properly hardened against hijacking.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Implement strict session lifecycle controls including proper session invalidation, secure session identifiers, and appropriate timeout configurations. Apply vendor-provided patches when available and review ACS portal session handling configurations.

Fix this in Secure Access Control System Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2014-0678 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data