An attacker with standard user credentials could exploit this to gain privileged CLI access, effectively escalating their privileges. The vulnerability received a high CVSS v3 base score of 8.0 , underscoring the potential for complete system compromise.
For many legacy and current Cisco enterprise devices, this exposes SSH-2.0-Cisco-1.25 . This tells an analyst two things:
Perhaps the most significant technical quirk relates to cryptographic agility. Many devices that display the SSH-2.0-Cisco-1.25 banner often require older, insecure key exchange algorithms like diffie-hellman-group1-sha1 . This algorithm uses a 1024-bit prime modulus, which is considered insufficient against modern computational capabilities and well-funded adversaries. The default disabling of these weak algorithms in modern, secure SSH clients directly causes connectivity failures to these older Cisco devices.
The SSH-2.0-Cisco-1.25 vulnerability is a weakness in the Cisco SSH implementation that allows an attacker to exploit the server's authentication mechanism. Specifically, the vulnerability occurs when the server is configured to use a specific type of authentication, known as "keyboard-interactive" authentication. ssh-2.0-cisco-1.25 vulnerability
1. Authentication Bypass via RSA Public Key Flaw (CVE-2015-0235 / Similar)
October 26, 2023 Target Service: SSH-2.0-Cisco-1.25 Severity: High to Critical (Context Dependent)
Practical, prioritized actions
By combining software updates with strict configuration hardening, you can successfully protect your infrastructure from exploits targeting legacy Cisco SSH versions.
: Leverage Nessus, OpenVAS, or similar scanners. Plugins like 165676 can actively test for known Cisco vulnerabilities by attempting to authenticate and send specific SSH requests to identify vulnerable versions.
: The internal Cisco software version handling the SSH process. An attacker with standard user credentials could exploit
If you see this banner, the device is likely vulnerable to one or more of the following:
When an SSH client connects to a server, the server first sends a version string to identify itself. The SSH-2.0-Cisco-1.25 string tells the client: "I am a Cisco device running my own SSH server (version 1.25) and I speak the SSH-2 protocol".
user wants a long article about "ssh-2.0-cisco-1.25 vulnerability". I need to provide a comprehensive article covering detection, exploitation, mitigation, impact, vendor responses, real-world incidents, and security implications. To gather all necessary information efficiently, I will perform a series of searches using different keywords and perspectives. search results show various potential vulnerabilities. To gather more comprehensive information, I need to perform additional searches. I will search for "Cisco SSH vulnerability CVE-2024-20526" and "Cisco SSH vulnerability CVE-2023-20244". search results provide a good starting point. I will now structure the article to cover the technical details, vulnerability analysis, exploitation scenarios, detection methods, mitigation strategies, and risk assessment. I will cite relevant sources. search results provide a good amount of information. I'll now structure the article to cover what the banner reveals, the historical vulnerabilities, modern high-severity CVEs, real-world incidents, detection, mitigation, and risk assessment. I'll cite the sources accordingly. banner string SSH-2.0-Cisco-1.25 is frequently seen on the public internet and in corporate network scans, but it is not a specific vulnerability identifier. Instead, it is the default identification string that Cisco IOS and ASA devices send during the initial handshake of an SSH connection. This tells an analyst two things: Perhaps the