CVE-2017-12232Cisco IOS Software for Cisco Integrated Services Routers Denial-of-Service Vulnerability
CVE-2017-12232 is a resource management error in Cisco IOS software, rated medium (6.5 on CVSS 3.1).
Why this priority: Exploited in the wild: listed in CISA's KEV catalog.
Published · Updated · NVD status: Analyzed
What it is
Memory, handles or other resources are mismanaged.
How it is reached
An attacker can exploit it from the same local network segment, without an account, and nobody has to click anything.
What an attacker gains
A successful attack can take it offline. In practice, this kind of flaw lets an attacker exhaust CPU, memory or connections until the service stops answering.
Is it being exploited?
CISA added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2022-03-03: it is being exploited in the wild. EPSS estimates a 2.2% chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days, higher than 82% of scored CVEs.
What to do
- Treat it as urgent: it is on CISA's KEV list. CISA's deadline for US federal agencies: 2022-03-24.
- No fixed version is listed yet. Find every place Cisco IOS software runs, watch the references for a fix, and plan a replacement if it is no longer supported.
- Segment the networks that can reach it.
- Check exposed instances for signs of compromise, not only for the version.
Description from NVD
A vulnerability in the implementation of a protocol in Cisco Integrated Services Routers Generation 2 (ISR G2) Routers running Cisco IOS 15.0 through 15.6 could allow an unauthenticated, adjacent attacker to cause an affected device to reload, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition. The vulnerability is due to a misclassification of Ethernet frames. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted Ethernet frame to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the affected device to reload, resulting in a DoS condition. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCvc03809.
What this means for your architecture.
A CVE names a product. Whether it matters depends on where that product sits in your systems: what reaches it, which trust boundary it guards and what it can reach once compromised. Veriom maps your components, their relationships and your trust boundaries from your code, cloud and delivery evidence, so you can see where a component like this sits. The radar itself does not look at your systems.
Components it touches
- Network edge devices: VPNs, firewalls, routers and gateways. They sit between the internet and internal networks, so a flaw in one is often the first step into everything behind it.
- Operating systems on servers, workstations or devices. Everything on the host inherits the flaw.
- Public entry points and shared services that must stay up. The flaw sits between untrusted traffic and shared capacity.
Trust boundaries in play
- Local network segment. The attacker must share a network segment with the target.
- Between untrusted traffic and shared capacity. An attacker who crosses it can exhaust CPU, memory or connections until the service stops answering.
Questions to answer about your own systems
- Where does Cisco IOS software run in your systems, and at which version?
- Which network segments can reach them?
- What can it reach once compromised: which data stores, secrets and services?
Sources
- CVE records and CVSS scores from the NVD CVE API. This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.
- Exploitation status from CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.
- Exploit likelihood from FIRST’s Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS), refreshed daily.
- Explanations are written by Veriom from fixed templates over each record’s data, not by a person reviewing each CVE. Descriptions are quoted from the records as published.