The Cisco Product Security Incident Response Team (PSIRT) is responsible for responding to Cisco product security incidents. The Cisco PSIRT is a dedicated, global team that manages the receipt, investigation, and public reporting of security vulnerability information that is related to Cisco products and networks. The on-call Cisco PSIRT works 24 hours with Cisco customers, independent security researchers, consultants, industry organizations, and other vendors to identify possible security issues with Cisco products and networks.

Individuals or organizations that are experiencing a product security issue are strongly encouraged to contact the Cisco PSIRT. Cisco welcomes reports from independent researchers, industry organizations, vendors, customers, and other sources concerned with product or network security. The minimal data needed for reporting a security issue is a description of the potential vulnerability.

Please contact the Cisco PSIRT using one of the following methods.

Cisco encourages the encryption of sensitive information that is sent to Cisco in email messages. The Cisco PSIRT supports encrypted messages via PGP/GNU Privacy Guard (GPG). The Cisco PSIRT team public key (key ID 0xA2D4CC77) is available on multiple public key servers.

For general security concerns about Cisco products, the Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) can provide configuration assistance and technical assistance with security matters. The TAC can also help with nonsensitive security incidents and software upgrades for security bug fixes. Use the following information to contact the Cisco TAC.

There are several ways to stay connected and receive the latest security vulnerability information from Cisco. Review the following table, and subsequent summaries, to determine the appropriate option.

Cisco.com

Email

RSS Feeds

Cisco Notification Service

The following table shows the Cisco press contacts for Cisco security vulnerability information.

Cisco product development practices specifically prohibit any intentional behaviors or product features which are designed to allow unauthorized device or network access, exposure of sensitive device information, or a bypass of security features or restrictions. These include, but are not limited to:

• Undisclosed device access methods or "backdoors"
• Hardcoded or undocumented account credentials
• Covert communication channels
• Undocumented traffic diversion

Cisco considers such product behaviors to be serious vulnerabilities. Cisco will address any issues of this nature with the highest priority and encourages all parties to report suspected vulnerabilities to the Cisco PSIRT for immediate investigation. Internal and external reports of these vulnerabilities will be managed and disclosed under the terms of the Cisco Security Vulnerability Policy.

Cisco has developed and implemented the Cisco Secure Development Lifecycle (CSDL) as a comprehensive security program that combines:

• Industry-leading secure software development best practices, processes, and tools
• Extensive training curricula for product development and test organizations
• Rigorous product security requirements

More information can be found on Cisco's CSDL website

The following graphic illustrates the Cisco PSIRT process at a high level and provides an overview of the vulnerability lifecycle, disclosure, and resolution process.

Figure 1. Cisco Product Security Incident Response Process

The following are the steps in the process illustrated in Figure 1:

1. Awareness: PSIRT receives notification of security incident.
2. Active Management: PSIRT prioritizes and identifies resources.
3. Fix Determined: PSIRT coordinates fix and impact assessment.
4. Communication Plan: PSIRT sets timeframe and notification format.
5. Integration and Mitigation: PSIRT engages experts and executives.
6. Notification: PSIRT notifies all customers simultaneously.
7. Feedback: PSIRT incorporates feedback from customers and Cisco internal input.

The Cisco PSIRT investigates all reports regardless of the Cisco software code version or product lifecycle status. Issues will be prioritized based on the potential severity of the vulnerability and other environmental factors. Ultimately, the resolution of a reported incident may require upgrades to products that are under active support from Cisco.

Throughout the investigative process, the Cisco PSIRT strives to work collaboratively with the source of the report (incident reporter) to confirm the nature of the vulnerability, gather required technical information, and ascertain appropriate remedial action. When the initial investigation is complete, results will be delivered to the incident reporter along with a plan for resolution and public disclosure. If the incident reporter disagrees with the conclusion, the Cisco PSIRT will make every effort to address those concerns.

In the case of incidents whereby an agreement cannot be reached through the normal process, incident reporters may escalate by contacting the Cisco Technical Assistance Center and requesting the director of the global Cisco PSIRT team.

During any investigation, the Cisco PSIRT manages all sensitive information on a highly confidential basis. Internal distribution is limited to those individuals who have a legitimate need to know and can actively assist in the resolution. Similarly, the Cisco PSIRT asks incident reporters to maintain strict confidentiality until complete resolutions are available for customers and have been published by the Cisco PSIRT on the Cisco website through the appropriate coordinated disclosure.

With the agreement of the incident reporter, the Cisco PSIRT may acknowledge the reporters contribution during the public disclosure of the vulnerability.

Cisco PSIRT works with third-party coordination centers such as CERT/CC, CERT-FI, JP-CERT, or CPNI to manage a coordinated industry disclosure for vulnerabilities reported to Cisco that may impact multiple vendors (for example, a generic protocol issue). In those situations, the Cisco PSIRT either will assist the incident reporter in contacting the coordination center, or may do so on that individual's behalf.

If a reported vulnerability involves a vendor product, the Cisco PSIRT will notify the vendor directly, coordinate with the incident reporter, or engage a third-party coordination center.

The Cisco PSIRT will coordinate with the incident reporter to determine the frequency of status updates of the incident and documentation updates.

In the event Cisco becomes aware of a vulnerability that does not affect a Cisco product, but does involve another vendor's product, our policy for reporting vulnerabilities to vendors is followed.

Cisco uses version 2.0 of the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) as part of its standard process of evaluating reported potential vulnerabilities in Cisco products. The CVSS model uses three distinct measurements or scores that include base, temporal, and environmental calculations. Cisco will provide an evaluation of the base vulnerability score, and in some instances, will provide a temporal vulnerability score. End users are encouraged to compute the environmental score based on their network parameters. The combination of all three scores should be considered the final score, which represents a moment in time and is tailored to a specific environment. Organizations are advised to use this final score to prioritize responses in their own environments. In addition, Cisco uses the Security Impact Rating (SIR) as a way to categorize vulnerability severity in a simpler manner. The SIR is based on the CVSS base score, adjusted by PSIRT to account for Cisco-specific variables, and will be included in every Cisco Security Advisory. Cisco uses the following guidelines when determining which security publication will include a particular vulnerability:

Cisco reserves the right to deviate from this on an exception basis in the event that there are additional factors not properly captured in the CVSS score.

If there is a security issue with a third-party software component that is used in a Cisco product, Cisco will typically use the CVSS score provided by the component creator. In some cases, Cisco may adjust the CVSS score to reflect the impact to the Cisco product.

For more information about CVSS, visit the FIRST.org web site.

If there is a vulnerability in a third-party software component that is used in a Cisco product, Cisco typically uses the CVSS score provided by the component creator. Cisco may adjust the CVSS score to reflect the impact to Cisco products.

Cisco will consider a third-party vulnerability “high profile” if it meets the following criteria:

• The vulnerability exists in a third-party component.
• Multiple Cisco products are affected.
• The CVSS score is 5.0 or above.
• The vulnerability has gathered significant public attention, is likely to have exploits available, and is expected to be actively exploited.

For high profile, third-party vulnerabilities, Cisco will begin assessing all potentially impacted products that have not reached End-of-Support (with priority given to those products that have not reached End-of-Software-Maintenance) and publish a Security Advisory within 24 hours of initial disclosure by the third-party. All known affected Cisco products will be detailed in an update to the initial Security Advisory, which will be published within 7 days of Cisco's initial disclosure. A Cisco bug will be created for each vulnerable product so that registered customers can view them via the Cisco Bug Search Toolkit. Third-party vulnerabilities that are not classified as high profile will be disclosed in a Release Note Enclosure (RNE).

In all security publications, Cisco discloses the minimum amount of information required for an end user to assess the impact of a vulnerability and any potential steps needed to protect their environment. Cisco does not provide vulnerability details that could enable someone to craft an exploit.

Cisco provides the following types of security-related publications via the Cisco Security portal on Cisco.com.

• Cisco Security Advisories
  Cisco Security Advisories provide detailed information about security issues that directly involve Cisco products and require an upgrade, fix, or other customer action. Security Advisories are used to disclose vulnerabilities with a Critical, High, or Medium Security Impact Rating.
  
  Cisco Security Advisories include an option to download Common Vulnerability Reporting Framework (CVRF) content, and Cisco Security Advisories for Cisco IOS Software will include an option to download Open Vulnerability and Assessment Language (OVAL) definitions. CVRF and OVAL are industry standards designed to depict vulnerability information in machine-readable format (XML files). This machine-readable content can be used with other tools to automate the process of interpreting data contained in a Security Advisory. CVRF and OVAL content can be downloaded directly from each Security Advisory. For more information about CVRF and OVAL, see the preceding links.
  

• Cisco Security Responses
  Cisco Security Responses address issues that require a response to information discussed in a public forum, such as a blog or discussion list. The responses are normally published if a third party makes a public statement about a Cisco product vulnerability.
  

• Cisco Event Responses
  Cisco Event Responses provide information about security events that have the potential for widespread impact on customer networks, applications, and devices. Cisco Event Responses contain summary information, threat analysis, and mitigation techniques that feature Cisco products. They are normally published under the following circumstances:

  • If a significant security vulnerability exists in a vendor's product that could affect a Cisco product due to interoperation with the vendor's product or use of the network as a vector for exploitation
  • In response to the release of Cisco IOS Software bundled publications

• Threat Outbreak Alerts
  Cisco Threat Outbreak Alerts cover the latest data regarding malicious email and web-based threats, including spam, phishing, viruses, malware, and botnet activity. These alerts do not relate to Cisco products but are provided for the benefit of Cisco customers and others.

• Release Note Enclosures
  Release Note Enclosures are used to disclose issues with a Low Security Impact Rating. All Cisco bug IDs that are disclosed by Cisco are available for registered customers to view in the Cisco Bug Search Tool.

If a Cisco Security Advisory references a bug, the bug entry in the Cisco Bug Search Tool will link to the relevant Cisco Security Advisory.

Any Cisco bug that has been evaluated by the Cisco PSIRT will include a "PSIRT Evaluation" section in its Release Note Enclosure. This new section will include, where Cisco deems appropriate and relevant, base and temporal CVSS scores and a CVE ID. Customers are invited to use this additional information at their discretion and correlate Cisco bugs with industry events. This information is not intended to supplement any standard Cisco warranties applicable to the software as stated in the Cisco End User License Agreement.

Free software updates will not be provided for issues that are disclosed through a Release Note Enclosure. Customers who wish to upgrade to a software version that includes fixes for those issues should contact their normal support channels. Any exception to this policy will be determined solely at the discretion of Cisco.

The following table summarizes the methods used to notify customers about the aforementioned security publications. Exceptions may be made on a case-by-case basis to increase communication for a given document.

                * For vulnerabilities with a Critical or High Security Impact Rating

If one or more of the following conditions exist, Cisco will publicly disclose Cisco Security Advisories:

• The Cisco PSIRT has completed the incident response process and determined that enough software patches or workarounds exist to address the vulnerability, or subsequent public disclosure of code fixes is planned to address high-severity vulnerabilities.
  

• The Cisco PSIRT has observed active exploitation of a vulnerability that could lead to increased risk for Cisco customers. For this condition, Cisco will accelerate the publication of a security announcement describing the vulnerability that may or may not include a complete set of patches or workarounds.
  

• There is the potential for increased public awareness of a vulnerability affecting Cisco products that could lead to increased risk for Cisco customers. For this condition, Cisco will accelerate the publication of a security announcement describing the vulnerability that may or may not include a complete set of patches or workarounds.
  

All Cisco security publications are disclosed to customers and the public simultaneously. Cisco reserves the right to deviate from this policy on an exception basis to ensure access to Cisco.com for software patch availability.

When coordinating disclosure with third parties, the Cisco PSIRT will attempt to provide notification of any changes to the Cisco PSIRT public disclosure schedule.

As documented in the Receiving Security Vulnerability Information from Cisco section of this document, Cisco delivers technical security information about software fixes in Cisco products and distributes product updates through several channels.

Cisco IOS Software

All Other Products

Exceptions

Customers with service contracts receive incident response assistance for any incident in which a Cisco product plays a significant role, regardless of whether there is an identified problem with a Cisco product.

All customers, regardless of contract status, receive free incident response assistance, similar to that offered to contract customers, for any incident that involves known or reasonably suspected security vulnerability in a Cisco product.

Cisco reserves the right to determine the type and degree of assistance it may offer in connection with any incident and to withdraw from any incident at any time. Cisco may offer customers incident response services free of charge. Cisco may give special consideration to security incidents that involve actual or potential threats to persons, property, or the Internet as well as requests from law enforcement agencies or formal incident response teams.

PSIRT will investigate and disclose vulnerabilities in Cisco products and services from the date of First Commercial Shipment (FCS) to the Last Day of Support. Cisco customers with service contracts that entitle them to regular software updates should obtain security fixes through their usual update channels, generally from the Cisco website. Cisco recommends contacting the TAC only with specific and imminent problems or questions.

As a special customer service, and to improve the overall security of the Internet, Cisco may offer customers free software updates to address high-severity security problems. The decision to provide free software updates is made on a case-by-case basis. Refer to the Cisco security publication for details. Free software updates will typically be limited to Cisco Security Advisories.

If Cisco has offered a free software update to address a specific issue, noncontract customers who are eligible for the update may obtain it by contacting the Cisco TAC using any of the means described in the General Security-Related Queries section of this document. To verify their entitlement, individuals who contact the TAC should have available the URL of the Cisco document that is offering the update.

Customers may only install and expect support for software versions and feature sets for which they have purchased a license. By installing, downloading, accessing, or otherwise using such software upgrades, customers agree to follow the terms of the Cisco software license. Additionally, customers may only download software for which they have a valid license, procured from Cisco directly, or through a Cisco authorized reseller or partner. In most cases this will be a maintenance upgrade to software that was previously purchased. Free security software updates do not entitle customers to a new software license, additional software feature sets, or major revision upgrades.

After the End of Sale, the availability of security fixes provided by Engineering is defined in the product's End of Sale bulletin. (See the End-of-Life Policy for details.) The End of Sale Bulletin may define one or more of the following milestones.

• The End of SW Maintenance milestone identifies the last date Cisco may release a software maintenance release that could include security fixes.
• The End of Engineering Support for the Cisco TAC milestone is the last date that Cisco Engineering may consider the repair and support of confirmed hardware or software defects for a product.
• The End of Security and Vulnerability Fixes milestone identifies the last date that Cisco may provide support for network-impacting security vulnerabilities.

Note: If the End of Security and Vulnerability Fixes milestone is not defined, the End of SW Maintenance and End of Engineering Support milestones will determine the last date Cisco Engineering will provide fixes.

All aspects of this process are subject to change without notice and on a case-by-case basis. No particular level of response is guaranteed for any specific issue or class of issues.