CVE-2017-12238
6.5 · MEDIUM Actively ExploitedOverview
CVE-2017-12238 is a medium-severity vulnerability affecting cisco ios. It was published on September 29, 2017 and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 6.5 (MEDIUM). This vulnerability is listed in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, indicating active exploitation in the wild.
This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 6.5, rated MEDIUM. It requires local or adjacent network access to exploit. No authentication or special privileges are required for exploitation.
Technical Description
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
Remediation
Check the references section for vendor advisories and patches from cisco. Update ios to the latest patched version. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.
Affected Products
| Vendor | Product | Versions | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| cisco | ios | 15.0 | Affected |
References
Frequently Asked Questions
What is CVE-2017-12238?
CVE-2017-12238 is a medium-severity vulnerability affecting cisco ios. It was published on September 29, 2017 and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 6.5 (MEDIUM). This vulnerability is listed in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, indicating active exploitation in the wild.
How severe is CVE-2017-12238?
This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 6.5, rated MEDIUM. It requires local or adjacent network access to exploit. No authentication or special privileges are required for exploitation.
How do I fix or remediate CVE-2017-12238?
Check the references section for vendor advisories and patches from cisco. Update ios to the latest patched version. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.
How can CyberStrike help with CVE-2017-12238?
CyberStrike's AI-powered security agents can automatically detect CVE-2017-12238 across your infrastructure using autonomous pentesting, DAST scanning, and HackBrowser. The platform continuously monitors for known vulnerabilities and provides actionable remediation guidance prioritized by real-world exploitability.
How CyberStrike Helps
AI agents map your attack surface to find vulnerabilities like this one.
Automated penetration testing that runs continuously, not just quarterly.
AI-driven PR review catches vulnerable dependencies before they ship.
Browser-based exploitation validates findings with real proof-of-concept.
Related MEDIUM CVEs from 2017
View all →Vulnerability in the Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition component of Oracle Fusion Midd
Vulnerability in the Oracle Hospitality Guest Access component of Oracle Hospitality Applications (s
A large out-of-bounds read on the heap vulnerability in Foxit PDF Reader can potentially be abused f
The Debian initrd script for the cryptsetup package 2:1.7.3-2 and earlier allows physically proximat
Vulnerability in the MySQL Server component of Oracle MySQL (subcomponent: Server: Security: Encrypt
IBM Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments (VMware) could disclose the Windows domain crede
A vulnerability in the implementation of Common Industrial Protocol (CIP) functionality in Cisco Ind
A vulnerability in the handling of list headers in Cisco cBR Series Converged Broadband Routers coul
Unisys Libra 43xx, 63xx, and 83xx, and FS600 class systems with MCP-FIRMWARE 40.0 before 40.0IC4 Bui
An issue was discovered in Tesla Motors Model S automobile, all firmware versions before version 7.1
An issue was discovered in Emerson DeltaV Easy Security Management DeltaV V12.3, DeltaV V12.3.1, and
An issue was discovered in certain Apple products. iOS before 10.2 is affected. The issue involves t