CVEs / CVE-2017-12238
CVE-2017-12238: Cisco Catalyst 6800 Series Switches VPLS Denial-of-Service Vulnerability
- Known exploited in the CISA KEV catalog since 3 Mar 2022
- medium 6.5 CVSS 3.1 (NVD)
- EPSS 2.01% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 80% of CVEs (30 Oct 2026)
- Last changed at its sources
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Summary
A vulnerability in the Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS) code of Cisco IOS for Cisco Catalyst 6800 Series Switches could allow an unauthenticated, adjacent attacker to cause a denial of service.
Description
A vulnerability in the Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS) code of Cisco IOS 15.0 through 15.4 for Cisco Catalyst 6800 Series Switches could allow an unauthenticated, adjacent attacker to cause a C6800-16P10G or C6800-16P10G-XL type line card to crash, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition. The vulnerability is due to a memory management issue in the affected software. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by creating a large number of VPLS-generated MAC entries in the MAC address table of an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause a C6800-16P10G or C6800-16P10G-XL type line card to crash, resulting in a DoS condition. This vulnerability affects Cisco Catalyst 6800 Series Switches that are running a vulnerable release of Cisco IOS Software and have a Cisco C6800-16P10G or C6800-16P10G-XL line card in use with Supervisor Engine 6T. To be vulnerable, the device must also be configured with VPLS and the C6800-16P10G or C6800-16P10G-XL line card needs to be the core-facing MPLS interfaces. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCva61927.
Affected and fixed versions
| Product | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| n/a Cisco IOS | Cisco IOS | — |
Exploitation
| In CISA KEV since | 3 Mar 2022 |
|---|---|
| Due date for US federal agencies | 24 Mar 2022 |
| Used in ransomware campaigns | Unknown |
| Required action | Apply updates per vendor instructions. |
Severity
| CVSS 3.1 | 6.5 mediumCVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:HScored by NVD |
|---|---|
| Weakness | CWE-399 |
References
- CVE-2017-12238 on NVD
- CVE-2017-12238 in the CISA KEV catalog
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/101040 Broken Link, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1039453 Broken Link, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- https://tools.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-20170927-vpls Vendor Advisory
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2017-12238 US Government Resource
Sources
Exploitation status from the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. EPSS scores from FIRST. Descriptions, severity and references from the National Vulnerability Database. Open-source package versions from OSV (CC-BY 4.0). Text is shown as each source states it; Stackurity does not edit it. Check the vendor's advisory before acting.
This product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.