Cisco warns of new hacking tool kit

IDG News Service - Cisco Systems Inc. has warned customers about the public release of computer code that exploits multiple security vulnerabilities in Cisco products.
Using exploits for nine software vulnerabilities, the program could allow malicious hackers to compromise Cisco's popular Catalyst switches or a wide variety of machines running versions of the company's Internetwork Operating System (IOS), the networking equipment vendor said Saturday.
Called the Cisco Global Exploiter, the program appears to give users a menu of choices, depending on the system they are trying to crack. It offers, for example, the "Cisco 677/678 Telnet Buffer Overflow Vulnerability" or the "Cisco Catalyst 3500 XL Remote Arbitrary Command Vulnerability," according to the Web site, www.k-otik.com. Computer code for a program matching the description in the Cisco security notice was posted on the French-language computer security exploit site yesterday.
While many of the exploits can be used only to shut down affected Cisco devices in denial-of-service attacks, at least one enables remote attackers to run malicious code on the affected system without needing a username or password, according to the Cisco security notice.
An Italian security research group calling itself BlackAngels took responsibility for the new tool but disavowed any responsibility for "incorrect or illegal use of this software or for eventual damages to others['] systems," according to the post on K-Otik.com and a statement on the group's Web page, www.blackangels.it.
The group describes itself as a "group of Italian teenager boys, expert in the network security field and programming," according to the BlackAngels Web site.
Members of the group didn't respond to requests for comment.
Cisco advised customers to patch software vulnerabilities exploited by the program to protect against malicious hackers using the new tool.

Reprinted with permission from

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