Updated:  October 31, 2001

Status

Affected

Vendor Statement

The Cisco PFM (PIX Firewall Manager ) utility has been deprecated, all engineering effort for PIX device-level management is currently focused on PIX Device Manager (PDM). The PFM utility is only for use from inside the firewall, and is expected to be running on a well protected host. The management host running PFM is intended to be an inside, secured host such that unauthorized personnel would not have access to the PFM log. A management device that is compromised will allow a determined attacker many options for information disclosure. For example, installation of a keystroke recorder would allow an attacker to easily gain further information, no matter how it was protected within the filesystem and internal structure of the device. In summary, we consider the report to be valid, however it is not something we will repair in the PFM.

Vendor Information

The vendor has not provided us with any further information regarding this vulnerability.

Addendum

The CERT/CC has no additional comments at this time.