Vulnerability Monitor

The vendors, products, and vulnerabilities you care about

CVE-2020-3172

A vulnerability in the Cisco Discovery Protocol feature of Cisco FXOS Software and Cisco NX-OS Software could allow an unauthenticated, adjacent attacker to execute arbitrary code as root or cause a denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected device. The vulnerability exists because of insufficiently validated Cisco Discovery Protocol packet headers. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted Cisco Discovery Protocol packet to a Layer 2-adjacent affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause a buffer overflow that could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary code as root or cause a DoS condition on the affected device. Note: Cisco Discovery Protocol is a Layer 2 protocol. To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker must be in the same broadcast domain as the affected device (Layer 2 adjacent). Note: This vulnerability is different from the following Cisco FXOS and NX-OS Software Cisco Discovery Protocol vulnerabilities that Cisco announced on Feb. 5, 2020: Cisco FXOS, IOS XR, and NX-OS Software Cisco Discovery Protocol Denial of Service Vulnerability and Cisco NX-OS Software Cisco Discovery Protocol Remote Code Execution Vulnerability.

Security Impact Summary

This vulnerability carries a HIGH severity rating with a CVSS v3.1 score of 8.8, indicating it requires adjacent network access with relatively low complexity without requiring user interaction and does not require pre-existing privileges . The vulnerability impacts confidentiality (data exposure), integrity (unauthorized modifications), and availability (service disruption) for affected systems. Impacting 107 products from cisco, from cisco, from cisco and 104 others, organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.

Historical Context

Reported in 2020, this vulnerability emerged during an era marked by increased sophistication in supply chain attacks, cloud infrastructure vulnerabilities, and software-as-a-service (SaaS) security challenges. Security practices during this period emphasized zero-trust architectures, container security, and API protection.

Published

2020-02-26T17:15:13.343

Last Modified

2024-11-21T05:30:28.670

Status

Modified

Source

[email protected]

Severity

CVSSv3.1: 8.8 (HIGH)

CVSSv2 Vector

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

Access Vector: ADJACENT_NETWORK
Access Complexity: LOW
Authentication: NONE
Confidentiality Impact: COMPLETE
Integrity Impact: COMPLETE
Availability Impact: COMPLETE

Exploitability Score

6.5

Impact Score

10.0

Weaknesses

Type: Secondary
CWE-20
Type: Primary
CWE-20

Affected Vendors & Products

Type	Vendor	Product	Version/Range	Vulnerable?
Operating System	cisco	firepower_extensible_operating_system	< 2.6.1.187	Yes
Operating System	cisco	firepower_extensible_operating_system	< 2.7.1.106	Yes
Hardware	cisco	firepower_4110	-	No
Hardware	cisco	firepower_4115	-	No
Hardware	cisco	firepower_4120	-	No
Hardware	cisco	firepower_4125	-	No
Hardware	cisco	firepower_4140	-	No
Hardware	cisco	firepower_4145	-	No
Hardware	cisco	firepower_4150	-	No
Hardware	cisco	firepower_9300	-	No
Application	cisco	ucs_manager	< 3.2\(3n\)	Yes
Application	cisco	ucs_manager	< 4.0\(4g\)	Yes
Hardware	cisco	ucs_6248up	-	No
Hardware	cisco	ucs_6296up	-	No
Hardware	cisco	ucs_6324	-	No
Hardware	cisco	ucs_6332	-	No
Hardware	cisco	ucs_6332-16up	-	No
Operating System	cisco	nx-os	-	Yes
Hardware	cisco	mds_9132t	-	No
Hardware	cisco	mds_9148s	-	No
Hardware	cisco	mds_9148t	-	No
Hardware	cisco	mds_9216	-	No
Hardware	cisco	mds_9216a	-	No
Hardware	cisco	mds_9216i	-	No
Hardware	cisco	mds_9222i	-	No
Hardware	cisco	mds_9506	-	No
Hardware	cisco	mds_9509	-	No
Hardware	cisco	mds_9513	-	No
Hardware	cisco	mds_9706	-	No
Hardware	cisco	mds_9710	-	No
Hardware	cisco	mds_9718	-	No
Operating System	cisco	nx-os	5.2\(1\)sv5\(1.2\)	Yes
Operating System	cisco	nx-os	5.2\(1\)sv5\(1.2\)	Yes
Hardware	cisco	nexus_1000v	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_1000ve	-	No
Operating System	cisco	nx-os	-	Yes
Hardware	cisco	nexus_3016	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_3048	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_3064	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_3064-t	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_31108pc-v	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_31108tc-v	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_31128pq	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_3132c-z	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_3132q	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_3132q-v	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_3132q-xl	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_3164q	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_3172	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_3172pq-xl	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_3172tq	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_3172tq-32t	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_3172tq-xl	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_3232c_	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_3264c-e	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_3264q	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_3408-s	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_34180yc	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_3432d-s	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_3464c	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_3524	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_3524-x	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_3524-xl	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_3548	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_3548-x	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_3548-xl	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_36180yc-r	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_3636c-r	-	No
Operating System	cisco	nx-os	7.3\(5\)n1\(1\)	Yes
Hardware	cisco	nexus_5010	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_5020	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_5548p	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_5548up	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_5596t	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_5596up	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_56128p	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_5624q	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_5648q	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_5672up	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_5696q	-	No
Operating System	cisco	nx-os	-	Yes
Hardware	cisco	nexus_6001	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_6004	-	No
Operating System	cisco	nx-os	7.3\(0\)d1\(0.140\)	Yes
Operating System	cisco	nx-os	7.3\(0\)d1\(0.146\)	Yes
Hardware	cisco	nexus_7000	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_7700	-	No
Operating System	cisco	nx-os	7.0\(3\)i3\(0.191\)	Yes
Operating System	cisco	nx-os	13.2\(7.230\)	Yes
Operating System	cisco	nx-os	14.2\(1i\)	Yes
Hardware	cisco	nexus_92304qc	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_92348gc-x	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_9236c	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_9272q	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_93108tc-ex	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_93108tc-fx	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_93120tx	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_93128tx	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_93180lc-ex	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_93180yc-ex	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_93180yc-fx	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_93216tc-fx2	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_93240yc-fx2	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_9332c	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_9332pq	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_93360yc-fx2	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_9336c-fx2	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_9336pq_aci_spine	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_9348gc-fxp	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_9364c	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_9372px	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_9372px-e	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_9372tx	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_9372tx-e	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_9396px	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_9396tx	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_9504	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_9508	-	No
Hardware	cisco	nexus_9516	-	No

References

https://tools.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-20200226-fxos-nxos-cdp Vendor Advisory ([email protected])
https://tools.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-20200226-fxos-nxos-cdp Vendor Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)

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.