Vulnerability Monitor

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CVE-2017-12238


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.


Security Impact Summary

This vulnerability carries a MEDIUM severity rating with a CVSS v3.1 score of 6.5, indicating it requires adjacent network access with relatively low complexity without requiring user interaction and does not require pre-existing privileges . The vulnerability impacts and availability (service disruption) for affected systems. Impacting 20 products from cisco, from cisco, from cisco and 17 others, organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.

Historical Context

First disclosed in 2017, this vulnerability was reported during a period defined by widespread IoT adoption challenges, mobile security concerns, and the emergence of advanced persistent threat (APT) techniques. Contemporary mitigation strategies focused on secure development practices and third-party component vetting.


Published

2017-09-29T01:34:48.997

Last Modified

2026-01-12T22:16:00.913

Status

Deferred

Source

[email protected]

Severity

CVSSv3.1: 6.5 (MEDIUM)

CVSSv2 Vector

AV:A/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P

  • Access Vector: ADJACENT_NETWORK
  • Access Complexity: LOW
  • Authentication: NONE
  • Confidentiality Impact: NONE
  • Integrity Impact: NONE
  • Availability Impact: PARTIAL
Exploitability Score

6.5

Impact Score

2.9

Weaknesses
  • Type: Secondary
    CWE-399
  • Type: Primary
    NVD-CWE-noinfo

Affected Vendors & Products
Type Vendor Product Version/Range Vulnerable?
Operating System cisco ios ≤ 15.4 Yes
Hardware cisco c6800-16p10g - No
Hardware cisco c6800-16p10g-xl - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_6000 - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_6000_ws-svc-nam-1 2.2\(1a\) No
Hardware cisco catalyst_6000_ws-svc-nam-1 3.1\(1a\) No
Hardware cisco catalyst_6000_ws-svc-nam-2 2.2\(1a\) No
Hardware cisco catalyst_6000_ws-svc-nam-2 3.1\(1a\) No
Hardware cisco catalyst_6000_ws-x6380-nam 2.1\(2\) No
Hardware cisco catalyst_6000_ws-x6380-nam 3.1\(1a\) No
Hardware cisco catalyst_6500 - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_6500-e - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_6500_ws-svc-nam-1 2.2\(1a\) No
Hardware cisco catalyst_6500_ws-svc-nam-1 3.1\(1a\) No
Hardware cisco catalyst_6500_ws-svc-nam-2 2.2\(1a\) No
Hardware cisco catalyst_6500_ws-svc-nam-2 3.1\(1a\) No
Hardware cisco catalyst_6500_ws-x6380-nam 2.1\(2\) No
Hardware cisco catalyst_6500_ws-x6380-nam 3.1\(1a\) No
Hardware cisco catalyst_6503-e - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_6504-e - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_6506-e - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_6509-e - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_6509-neb-a - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_6509-v-e - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_6513 - No
Hardware cisco catalyst_6513-e - No

References

How SecUtils Interprets This CVE

SecUtils normalizes and enriches National Vulnerability Database (NVD) records by standardizing vendor and product identifiers, aggregating vulnerability metadata from both NVD and MITRE sources, and providing structured context for security teams. For cisco's affected products, we extract Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) data, Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) classifications, CVSS severity metrics, and reference data to enable rapid vulnerability prioritization and asset correlation. This record contains no exploit code, proof-of-concept instructions, or attack methodologies—only defensive intelligence necessary for patch management, risk assessment, and security operations.