FBI Warns FSB-Linked Hackers Exploiting Unpatched Cisco Devices for Cyber Espionage
A Russian state-sponsored cyber espionage group known as Static Tundra has been observed actively exploiting a seven-year-old security flaw in Cisco IOS and Cisco IOS XE software as a means to establish persistent access to target networks.
Cisco Talos, which disclosed details of the activity, said the attacks single out organizations in telecommunications, higher education and manufacturing sectors across North America, Asia, Africa and Europe. Prospective victims are chosen based on their “strategic interest” to Russia, it added, with recent efforts directed against Ukraine and its allies following the onset of the Russo-Ukrainian war in 2022.
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), in a concurrent advisory, said it has observed FSB cyber actors “exploiting Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) and end-of-life networking devices running an unpatched vulnerability (CVE-2018-0171) in Cisco Smart Install (SMI) to broadly target entities in the United States and globally.”
To mitigate the risk posed by the threat, Cisco is advising customers to apply the patch for CVE-2018-0171 or disable Smart Install if patching is not an option.