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Elastic Services ControllerApplication · Cisco

CVE-2017-6688

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2017-06-13
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
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 Cisco Elastic Services Controllers could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to log in to an affected system as the Linux root user, aka an Insecure Default Password Vulnerability. More Information: CSCvc76631. Known Affected Releases: 2.2(9.76).

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

Cisco Elastic Services Controller contains an insecure default password vulnerability that allows an authenticated remote attacker to gain root-level access to the underlying Linux operating system. The attacker can leverage known default credentials to bypass normal authentication and obtain privileged shell access.

MitigationImmediately change the default password on all affected Cisco Elastic Services Controller installations to a strong, unique password following Cisco's documented password change procedures. Restrict network access to management interfaces and implement least-privilege access controls.

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
Elastic Services ControllerApplication
Affected:= 2.2\(9.76\)

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. Identify if Cisco Elastic Services Controller is installed
    Look for the ESC (Elastic Services Controller) installation on the system. Check for directories such as /opt/esc or /opt/cisco/esc, or run 'dpkg -l | grep esc' or 'rpm -qa | grep esc' to list installed ESC packages.
    Affected if The product is not installed on the system.
  2. Determine the installed version of Cisco Elastic Services Controller
    Run 'cat /opt/esc/VERSION' or check the ESC GUI under Administration > System Information to view the exact version number. Compare against version 2.2(9.76).
    Affected if The installed version is 2.2(9.76) or falls within this specific release line.
  3. Verify whether the default password is still in use
    Attempt to access the ESC management interface or CLI using the default credentials. The default username is typically 'admin'. Check if the default password has been changed from any factory default value.
    Affected if The default admin password has not been changed and still uses a known default value.
  4. Check if remote management access is enabled
    Review the ESC configuration for accessible management interfaces. Check network listen settings and firewall rules: run 'netstat -tlnp | grep esc' or review /opt/esc/conf/escConfig.xml for management IP bindings.
    Affected if The ESC management interface is listening on a reachable network address and is accessible from untrusted networks.
  5. Confirm privileged shell access is possible with default credentials
    Using the default credentials, log into the ESC CLI or API and attempt to execute privileged commands or spawn a shell. The vulnerability allows root-level access to the underlying Linux OS.
    Affected if Authenticated access with default credentials yields root shell or equivalent privileged access to the host operating system.

A user is affected if Cisco Elastic Services Controller version 2.2(9.76) is installed AND the default password has not been changed AND the management interface is accessible, allowing authenticated attackers to obtain root-level shell access.

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

Immediately change the default password on all affected Cisco Elastic Services Controller installations to a strong, unique password following Cisco's documented password change procedures. Restrict network access to management interfaces and implement least-privilege access controls.

Fix this in Elastic Services Controller Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,060
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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-2017-6688 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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