A vulnerability in the Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD) offload implementation of Cisco Catalyst 4500 Series Switches and Cisco Catalyst 4500-X Series Switches could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a crash of the iosd process, causing a denial of service (DoS) condition. The vulnerability is due to insufficient error handling when the BFD header in a BFD packet is incomplete. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted BFD message to or across an affected switch. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to trigger a reload of the system. This vulnerability affects Catalyst 4500 Supervisor Engine 6-E (K5), Catalyst 4500 Supervisor Engine 6L-E (K10), Catalyst 4500 Supervisor Engine 7-E (K10), Catalyst 4500 Supervisor Engine 7L-E (K10), Catalyst 4500E Supervisor Engine 8-E (K10), Catalyst 4500E Supervisor Engine 8L-E (K10), Catalyst 4500E Supervisor Engine 9-E (K10), Catalyst 4500-X Series Switches (K10), Catalyst 4900M Switch (K5), Catalyst 4948E Ethernet Switch (K5). Cisco Bug IDs: CSCvc40729.
This vulnerability carries a HIGH severity rating with a CVSS v3.1 score of 8.6, 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 13 products from cisco, from cisco, from cisco and 10 others, organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.
First disclosed in 2018, 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.
2018-03-28T22:29:00.420
2026-01-13T22:22:09.993
Analyzed
CVSSv3.1: 8.6 (HIGH)
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C
10.0
6.9
| Type | Vendor | Product | Version/Range | Vulnerable? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating System | cisco | ios | 3.6\(2\)e | Yes |
| Operating System | cisco | ios_xe | 3.6\(2\)e | Yes |
| Hardware | cisco | catalyst_4500-x_series_switches_\(k10\) | - | No |
| Hardware | cisco | catalyst_4500_supervisor_engine_6-e_\(k5\) | - | No |
| Hardware | cisco | catalyst_4500_supervisor_engine_6l-e_\(k10\) | - | No |
| Hardware | cisco | catalyst_4500_supervisor_engine_7-e_\(k10\) | - | No |
| Hardware | cisco | catalyst_4500_supervisor_engine_7l-e_\(k10\) | - | No |
| Hardware | cisco | catalyst_4500e_supervisor_engine_8-e_\(k10\) | - | No |
| Hardware | cisco | catalyst_4500e_supervisor_engine_8l-e_\(k10\) | - | No |
| Hardware | cisco | catalyst_4500e_supervisor_engine_9-e_\(k10\) | - | No |
| Hardware | cisco | catalyst_4900m_switch_\(k5\) | - | No |
| Hardware | cisco | catalyst_4948e_ethernet_switch_\(k5\) | - | No |
| Operating System | cisco | ios | 3.6\(2\)e | Yes |
| Operating System | cisco | ios_xe | 3.6\(2\)e | Yes |
| Hardware | rockwellautomation | allen-bradley_stratix_8300_industrial_managed_ethernet_switch | - | No |
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.