Vulnerability Monitor

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CVE-2020-3509


A vulnerability in the DHCP message handler of Cisco IOS XE Software for Cisco cBR-8 Converged Broadband Routers could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause the supervisor to crash, which could result in a denial of service (DoS) condition. The vulnerability is due to insufficient error handling when DHCP version 4 (DHCPv4) messages are parsed. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a malicious DHCPv4 message to or through a WAN interface of an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause a reload of the affected device. Note: On Cisco cBR-8 Converged Broadband Routers, all of the following are considered WAN interfaces: 10 Gbps Ethernet interfaces 100 Gbps Ethernet interfaces Port channel interfaces that include multiple 10 and/or 100 Gbps Ethernet interfaces


Security Impact Summary

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 2 products from cisco, from cisco 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

2020-09-24T18:15:21.073

Last Modified

2024-11-21T05:31:13.133

Status

Modified

Source

[email protected]

Severity

CVSSv3.1: 8.6 (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-388
  • Type: Primary
    CWE-203

Affected Vendors & Products
Type Vendor Product Version/Range Vulnerable?
Operating System cisco ios_xe 16.7\(1\) Yes
Hardware cisco cbr-8 - 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.