Assignment goal $-$ Experience reading an actual vendor security alert document

Background

As some of you know Cisco Systems is a large and dominant player in the networking and security device market. We in the CUNY Central office as well as the majority of the CUNY colleges use Cisco products on our respective networks. Given this it probably will not surprise you that Cisco devices as well as products from other networking$/$security vendors are full of security holes. In this assignment you will read an actual, recently published Cisco security alert warning document, Cisco calls these reports PSIRTs. You will then write a small report about the contents of this particular PSIRT.

Assignment Task

Please read this publicly available PSIRT from Cisco, write and then upload a report about this PSIRT advisory

Cisco PSIRT: Cisco PSIRT report

Please be sure that your report includes the following detail:

A brief summary of what Cisco PSIRTs are along with a synopsis of what vulnerability this particular PSIRT is talking about.

An explanation of why the vulnerability exists along with a list of the impacted product$($s$)$ and software versions. Please provide a statement as to whether or not there is a work$-$around and$/$or software release to correct the issue. If there is newer software to repair the issue then please list the software versions that contain the fix.

Your thoughts:

On the role that vendor advisories such as Cisco PSIRTs play in securing networks. Are they important$/$not important? Please explain your reasoning.

What is the impact of this particular PSIRT on a network on which this issue is present. Is this a big deal, a minor issue, something in between? What do you recommend be done to remove this vulnerability? Should: The impacted device be turned off? Should a configuration change be made or a code upgrade executed? What do you recommend? Please explain your reasoning.