CVE-2017-12238

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.

• CWE-399

• http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/101040Broken Link, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
• http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1039453Broken Link, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
• https://tools.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-20170927-vplsVendor Advisory
• http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/101040Broken Link, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
• http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1039453Broken Link, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
• https://tools.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-20170927-vplsVendor Advisory
• https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2017-12238US Government Resource

Published

Sep 29, 2017

Last Modified

Jun 17, 2026

Status

Analyzed

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