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CVE-2017-12238

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

Published Sep 28, 2017 · updated Jun 16, 2026 · cisco ios

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.

Timeline

Detection, updates, and resolution for this record.

  1. Sep 28, 2017 · Catalog

    Detected

    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

  2. Mar 3, 2022 · CISA KEV

    Known exploited

    Apply updates per vendor instructions.

  3. Mar 24, 2022 · CISA KEV

    Remediation due

    Apply updates per vendor instructions.

  4. Jun 16, 2026 · Catalog

    Updated

    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

Required action

Apply updates per vendor instructions.

CISA due date Mar 24, 2022

Affected

  • cpe cisco/iosversion unspecified
  • vendor Cisco Catalyst 6800 Series Switchesversion unspecified

Sources

  • CISA KEVCVE-2017-12238

    A vulnerability in the Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS) code of Cisco IOS for Cisco Catalyst 6800 Series Switches could allow an unauthenticated, adjacent attacker to cause a denial of service.

    cisa.gov
  • CVE.orgCVE-2017-12238

    Official CVE identifier

    cve.org
  • FIRST EPSSCVE-2017-12238

    30-day exploitation probability 2.0%

    first.org
  • NIST NVDCVE-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 ser

    nvd.nist.gov

References