Two critical vulnerabilities were actively exploited in Cisco Smart Licensing Utility, potentially allowing attackers to gain administrative access to affected systems. The vulnerabilities, discovered in September 2024 but now seeing active exploitation as of March 2025, could allow unauthorized attackers to gain administrative control over affected systems. These vulnerabilities affect Cisco Smart Licensing Utility versions 2.0.0, 2.1.0, and 2.2.0. Version 2.3.0 is not affected by these security flaws. According to recent reports from the SANS Internet Storm Center, two critical security flaws tracked as CVE-2024-20439 and CVE-2024-20440 in Cisco Smart Licensing Utility are currently being exploited in the wild. The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) added CVE-2024-20439 to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog on March 31, 2025, requiring federal agencies to implement necessary fixes by April 21, 2025. Ullrich, Dean of Research at SANS Technology Institute, confirmed that unidentified threat actors are actively exploiting these vulnerabilities, alongside other flaws, including what appears to be an information disclosure vulnerability (CVE-2024-0305) in Guangzhou Yingke Electronic Technology Ncast. Although found in September 2024, exploitation attempts weren’t observed until March 2025, highlighting the persistent risk of unpatched vulnerabilities. “The vulnerabilities are not dependent on one another,” Cisco stated in its security advisory. “In light of active abuse, it’s imperative that users apply the necessary patches for optimal protection,” security researchers emphasized. The vulnerabilities were initially discovered by Eric Vance of Cisco during internal security testing. Cyber Security News is a Dedicated News Platform For Cyber News, Cyber Attack News, Hacking News & Vulnerability Analysis.
This Cyber News was published on cybersecuritynews.com. Publication date: Thu, 03 Apr 2025 06:50:17 +0000