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Firepower Extensible Operating SystemOperating system · Cisco

CVE-2017-12277

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2017-11-02
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 1.1.3 or later.
See remediation →
94/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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
A vulnerability in the Smart Licensing Manager service of the Cisco Firepower 4100 Series Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) and Firepower 9300 Security Appliance could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to inject arbitrary commands that could be executed with root privileges. The vulnerability is due to insufficient input validation of certain Smart Licensing configuration parameters. An authenticated attacker could exploit the vulnerability by configuring a malicious URL within the affected feature. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary commands with root privileges. This vulnerability affects the following Cisco Firepower Security products running FX-OS code trains 1.1.3, 1.1.4, and 2.0.1 (versions 2.1.1, 2.2.1, and 2.2.2 are not affected): Firepower 4100 Series Next-Generation Firewall and Firepower 9300 Security Appliance. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCvb86863.

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 · high confidence

A command injection vulnerability in the Smart Licensing Manager service of Cisco Firepower 4100 Series NGFW and Firepower 9300 Security Appliance allows an authenticated attacker to inject and execute arbitrary commands with root privileges due to insufficient input validation of Smart Licensing configuration parameters, specifically when configuring a malicious URL.

MitigationUpgrade FX-OS to version 2.1.1, 2.2.1, 2.2.2 or later, which are not affected by this vulnerability. If immediate upgrade is not possible, restrict access to the Smart Licensing Manager to trusted administrators only.

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
Firepower Extensible Operating SystemOperating system
Affected:<= 1.1.3= 1.1.4= 2.0.1

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
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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. Confirm the device model
    Use 'show version' or check the device chassis to verify it is a Cisco Firepower 4100 Series NGFW or Firepower 9300 Security Appliance.
    Affected if The device is not one of these two models, the vulnerability does not apply.
  2. Identify the FX-OS version
    Run 'show version' or 'show fxos version' from the FX-OS CLI to retrieve the installed software version.
    Affected if The installed version is 1.1.3 or earlier, 1.1.4, or 2.0.1.
  3. Check if Smart Licensing is configured
    Run 'show license all' or 'show smart-license status' to determine whether the Smart Licensing Manager service is actively configured or enabled on the device.
    Affected if Smart Licensing is not configured or the service is disabled, the attack surface is not present.
  4. Review Smart Licensing configuration for suspicious entries
    Enter configuration mode and run 'show running-config | include smart' or 'show license all' to inspect the configured Smart Licensing URL and any custom parameters.
    Affected if A non-standard or externally configured URL is present in the Smart Licensing configuration, indicating possible prior exploitation or configuration tampering.

The device is affected only if it is a Firepower 4100 or 9300 series running FX-OS version 1.1.3 or earlier, 1.1.4, or 2.0.1 with Smart Licensing enabled and configured.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 1.1.3
Interim mitigation

Upgrade FX-OS to version 2.1.1, 2.2.1, 2.2.2 or later, which are not affected by this vulnerability. If immediate upgrade is not possible, restrict access to the Smart Licensing Manager to trusted administrators only.

Fix this in Firepower Extensible Operating System Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,200
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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-2017-12277 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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