Firesight System SoftwareApplication · Cisco
CVE-2015-6335
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 · uneditedThe policy implementation in Cisco FireSIGHT Management Center 5.3.1.7, 5.4.0.4, and 6.0.0 for VMware allows remote authenticated administrators to bypass intended policy restrictions and execute Linux commands as root via unspecified vectors, aka Bug ID CSCuw12839.
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 confidenceThe policy implementation in Cisco FireSIGHT Management Center for VMware contains a flaw that allows authenticated remote administrators to bypass intended policy restrictions and execute arbitrary Linux commands as root. This is a privilege escalation vulnerability where the policy enforcement mechanism can be circumvented by authenticated admin users.
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
Firesight System SoftwareApplication
= 5.3.1.7= 5.4.0.4= 6.0.0CVSS 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
- Complete
- Integrity
- Complete
- Availability
- Complete
AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:C/I:C/A:C
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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify Cisco FireSIGHT Management Center for VMware is deployedIdentify if the target system is running Cisco FireSIGHT Management Center (FMC) specifically the VMware virtual appliance. Check the system hostname, running processes, or documentation inventory for 'FireSIGHT' or 'FMC' and confirm it is the VMware version.Affected if The system is not Cisco FireSIGHT Management Center for VMware, then this CVE does not apply.
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Check installed software versionAccess the FMC web interface (or CLI) and navigate to System > Updates > Product Updates, or run 'show version' via CLI to retrieve the exact software version number.Affected if The installed version is exactly 5.3.1.7, 5.4.0.4, or 6.0.0. Versions outside this exact set are not affected.
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Confirm administrative accounts existReview user accounts in the FMC web interface under System > Users > Local User Administration or query the user database via CLI to confirm at least one admin-level account is configured.Affected if At least one authenticated administrator account exists on the system. The vulnerability requires valid admin credentials to exploit the policy bypass.
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Verify policy enforcement is configuredCheck if any access control policies, intrusion policies, or system policies are defined in the FMC under Policies > Access Control or similar policy management sections.Affected if Policies are defined. The vulnerability allows bypassing policy restrictions, so the existence of policies indicates the vulnerable feature is in use.
A user is affected only if the system is Cisco FireSIGHT Management Center for VMware AND the installed version is exactly 5.3.1.7, 5.4.0.4, or 6.0.0 AND administrative accounts are present. If any of these conditions are not met, the environment is not vulnerable to this CVE.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataApply the vendor patch from Cisco for the specific versions (5.3.1.7, 5.4.0.4, 6.0.0) or upgrade to a fixed version. Until patched, limit administrative access to only trusted personnel and monitor for suspicious command execution.
Fix this in Firesight System Software
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,176.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2015-6335 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2015-6335 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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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.
- 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
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