Catalyst Sd-Wan Controller
A flaw in the peering authentication mechanism of the control connection handshaking allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to bypass authentication and obtain administrative privileges. The issue exists because the system fails to properly validate incoming certificates and tokens when specific header options are altered, specifically within the `vdaemon` service. An attacker can mimic a legitimate network controller by establishing a DTLS connection with a self-signed certificate and sending crafted requests to the peering authentication endpoint.
Successful exploitation allows the attacker to log in as a high-privileged internal non-root user, granting access to NETCONF. This enables the manipulation of the entire SD-WAN fabric, including global routing tables, BGP routes, firewall rules, and VPN topology. The vulnerability has been actively exploited in the wild by threat actors, including a state-sponsored group designated as UAT-8616, who have used it to inject SSH keys, modify configurations, and escalate privileges to root.