CVE-2017-12238

lowpriority · act · 90OT risk · criticalKEV · exploitedEPSS 0.020 · 81 %ileEURUUS
grimoire priorityP0 · Act now
Exploitable?
Yes · in the wild
CISA KEV
Likely / severe?
2.02% (81st) EPSS
CVSS 3.3 · low
Is it mine?
61 products
Check your exposure
Who says so?
4 sources
cnnvd · enisa_euvd · fstec_bdu · cisco_csaf

added 2022-03-03remediate by 2022-03-24

required action Apply updates per vendor instructions.

EPSS · scored 2026-10-27

Cisco Catalyst 6800 Series Switches VPLS Denial-of-Service Vulnerability

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 card needs to be the core-facing MPLS interfaces. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCva61927.

01

remediations

Vendor fix, mitigation, or workaround guidance, as published by each source.

A vendor fix is available.

02

cvss

Technical severity, 0–10. One row per scoring source.

7.4
010

base score 0–10 · higher = more severe · hover a vector to decode⚠ sources disagree · low–high · 3.3–7.4

v2.03.3lowAV:A/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:Pprimary · NVD / NIST USexploitability 6.5 · impact 2.9
v3.16.5mediumCVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:Hprimary · NVD / NIST USexploitability 2.8 · impact 3.6
v3.07.4highCVSS:3.0/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:Hsecondary · Cisco PSIRT US
v3.16.5mediumCVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H/E:Hsecondary · CVSS-BT (t0sche)
v3.16.5mediumCVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:Hsecondary · ENISA EU
v3.16.5mediumAV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:Hsecondary · FSTEC (BDU) RU
v3.16.5mediumCVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:Hsecondaryexploitability 2.8 · impact 3.6
03

ssvc

A stakeholder decision — act, attend, or track — from exploitation and impact.

Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Technical Impact: partialcoordinatorcisa_ssvcUS
04

weaknesses

The CWE weakness classes this flaw belongs to.

05

affected products (61)

Products and version ranges known to be affected.

06

advisories (1)

Vendor and ecosystem advisories describing this.

  • cisco-sa-20170927-vplsCisco IOS Software for Cisco Catalyst 6800 Series Switches VPLS Denial of Service Vulnerability2017-09-27csaf · cisco_csafUS

    A vulnerability in the Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS) code of Cisco IOS Software 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. Cisco has released software updates that address this vulnerability. There are no workarounds that address this vulnerability. This advisory is part of the September 27, 2017, release of the Cisco IOS and IOS XE Software Security Advisory Bundled Publication, which includes 12 Cisco Security Advisories that describe 13 vulnerabilities. For a complete list of the advisories and links to them, see Cisco Event Response: September 2017 Semiannual Cisco IOS and IOS XE Software Security Advisory Bundled Publication ["https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/viewErp.x?alertId=ERP-63410"].

07

also known as (4)

Other names and identifiers for this entity.

08

sources

Which sources assert this record, and when.

published 2017-09-29modified 2026-06-17
09

references (10)

External citations — patches, advisories, analysis.

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