Cisco Systems VPN Client

Cisco Systems VPN Client

Cisco VPN Client on Windows 7.
Developer(s)	Cisco Systems
Stable release	Windows - 5.0.07.0440[1] / March 15, 2011; 7 months ago (2011-03-15) Mac OS X - 4.9.01.0180[2] / February 5, 2009; 2 years ago (2009-02-05)
Preview release	4.9.01.0230 for Mac / July 27, 2010; 15 months ago (2010-07-27)
Operating system	Windows, Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.5, Solaris UltraSPARC, Linux (Intel)[3]
Size	x86 - 7.63 MB x64 - 4.78 MB
Available in	English
Type	VPN software
License	Proprietary
Website	cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/secursw/ps2308/

The Cisco Systems VPN Client enables computers to connect to a virtual private network. The client makes remote resources of another network available in a secure way as if the user was connected directly to that "private" network.

Installation

The client is normally distributed with an executable installer and profile file(s), which contain all the necessary information to easily connect to a network. Cisco VPN Client Profile files have a security vulnerability which can potentially put the virtual private network at risk.^{[citation needed]}

Availability

The software is not free but is often installed on university and business computers in accordance with a site-license. As with most corporate licenses, administrators are allowed to freely distribute the software to users within their network.

Compatibility

VPN Client 4.9.01.0230 Beta added support for Mac OS X 10.6.^[4] Stable version 4.9.01.0180 appears to lack that support; 4.9.00.0050 explicitly did not support versions of Mac OS X later than 10.5.^[5]

VPN Client 5.0.07.0290 added support for 64-bit versions of Windows Vista and Windows 7.^[6]

VPN Client does not run on any Linux 64 bit dual core systems that have SMP turned on.^{[citation needed]}

Security

The client uses profile files (*.pcf) that store VPN passwords either hashed with type 7, or stored as cleartext. A vulnerability has been identified,^[7] and those passwords can easily be decoded using software or online services.^[8] To workaround these issues, network administrators are advised to use the Mutual Group Authentication feature, or use unique passwords (that aren't related to other important network passwords).^[7]

References

1. ^ VPN Client release notes
2. ^ Cisco VPN Client v4.x … Mac OS
3. ^ "VPN Client Homepage". http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/secursw/ps2308/. 
4. ^ Release Notes for VPN Client, Release 4.9.01.0230 Beta for Mac OS X
5. ^ Release Notes for VPN Client, Release 4.9.00.0050 for Mac OS X, Revised: May 21, 2010, OL-11179-04
6. ^ Release Notes for Cisco VPN Client, Release 5.0.07.0290
7. ^ ^{a b} "Cisco Security Notice: Cisco IPsec VPN Implementation Group Password Usage Vulnerability". http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/707/cisco-sn-20040415-grppass.shtml. 
8. ^ "Cisco Systems VPN Client Group Password Decoder". http://www.unix-ag.uni-kl.de/~massar/bin/cisco-decode.