Vulnerability Monitor

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CVE-2017-3857


A vulnerability in the Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP) parsing function of Cisco IOS (12.0 through 12.4 and 15.0 through 15.6) and Cisco IOS XE (3.1 through 3.18) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause an affected device to reload. The vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of L2TP packets. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted L2TP packet to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the affected device to reload, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition. This vulnerability affects Cisco devices that are running a vulnerable release of Cisco IOS or Cisco IOS XE Software if the L2TP feature is enabled for the device and the device is configured as an L2TP Version 2 (L2TPv2) or L2TP Version 3 (L2TPv3) endpoint. By default, the L2TP feature is not enabled. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCuy82078.


Security Impact Summary

This vulnerability carries a HIGH severity rating with a CVSS v3.1 score of 7.5, indicating it can be exploited remotely over the network 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 2 products from cisco, from cisco 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

2017-03-22T19:59:00.307

Last Modified

2025-04-20T01:37:25.860

Status

Deferred

Source

[email protected]

Severity

CVSSv3.1: 7.5 (HIGH)

CVSSv2 Vector

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

  • Access Vector: NETWORK
  • Access Complexity: LOW
  • Authentication: NONE
  • Confidentiality Impact: NONE
  • Integrity Impact: NONE
  • Availability Impact: COMPLETE
Exploitability Score

10.0

Impact Score

6.9

Weaknesses
  • Type: Secondary
    CWE-399
  • Type: Primary
    CWE-400

Affected Vendors & Products
Type Vendor Product Version/Range Vulnerable?
Operating System cisco ios ≤ 12.4 Yes
Operating System cisco ios ≤ 15.6 Yes
Operating System cisco ios_xe ≤ 3.18.0 Yes

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.