CVE-2017-12238
Cisco Catalyst 6800 Series Switches VPLS Denial-of-Service Vulnerability
- Medium 6.5
- Exploited: added to CISA KEV 3 Mar 2022
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 card needs to be the core-facing MPLS interfaces. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCva61927.
Key facts
- Published
- 28 Sep 2017
- Last changed
- 12 Jan 2026
- Assigned by
- cisco
- KEV added
- 3 Mar 2022
- KEV fix due
- 24 Mar 2022
- EPSS
- 2.017% likely to be exploited in the next 30 days, higher than 81.247% of CVEs (scores for 15 Nov 2026)
- SSVC (CISA)
- Exploitation: active; Automatable: no; Technical impact: partial
Severity scores
Each score is shown as its source gave it. They are not averaged or merged.
- 6.5CVSS 3.1, Mediumfrom CISA (ADP container)
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
What to do
- Apply updates per vendor instructions.CISA KEV required action
Historical context and remediation
This reference retains the original CVE publication date. A recent record update does not mean a new attack occurred.
No separately sourced impact summary is available on this page yet. Consult the description, version data and dated exploitation evidence.
Version statuses below come from the CNA. An “unaffected” version is not necessarily a currently supported release or proof of a patch date. EPSS is a dated risk estimate, not a count of historical attacks.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Versions |
|---|---|---|
| n/a | Cisco IOS |
|
Timeline
- 28 Sep 2017 Published
- 3 Mar 2022 Added to the CISA KEV catalogue