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Vulnerabilities

Vulnerability · CVE-2017-12238

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

Published Sep 28, 2017 · catalog updated Jun 16, 2026 · Cisco Catalyst 6800 Series Switches

Patch now

CVE-2017-12238 is in the CISA known-exploited catalog, due Mar 24, 2022. Confirm Cisco Catalyst 6800 Series Switches against the vendor advisory and apply that fix. The CVSS score does not change the priority.

Gaps on this record

  • No version range is stored. A customer cannot check an installed version against this record.
Severity
Medium6.5
Known exploitation
CISA KEV and VulnCheck KEV
EPSS
2.02%
Remediation
Remediation guidance
Affected products
cpe cisco/ios · vendor Cisco Catalyst 6800 Series Switches

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.

Are you affected?

Enter the version you run. The result uses only the ranges stored on this record.

The check returns affected, not affected, or incomplete. It does not guess a version that is missing from the record.

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

How to fix CVE-2017-12238

What to do

Three questions, each answered from this record only. Confirm the vendor advisory before you patch.

Should you patch?

CVE-2017-12238 is in the CISA known-exploited catalog, due Mar 24, 2022. Confirm Cisco Catalyst 6800 Series Switches against the vendor advisory and apply that fix. The CVSS score does not change the priority.

Which versions are affected?

Affected version ranges are not on this record. Apply updates per vendor instructions.

What should an analyst verify?

CWE-399. EPSS 2.02%. The CISA KEV listing is the exploitation evidence. No Exploit-DB or Metasploit reference is linked. Use the source links for the original advisory.

Technology hubs

Cisco security

Code

The project this record applies to. Exploit listings stay in References.

No public source repository is identified for this product.

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

Sources

  • CISA KEVConfirmed exploitationCVE-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.orgVulnerability recordCVE-2017-12238

    Official CVE identifier

    cve.org
  • FIRST EPSSExploitation probabilityCVE-2017-12238

    30-day exploitation probability 2.0%

    first.org
  • NIST NVDVulnerability recordCVE-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
  • VulnCheck KEVConfirmed exploitationCVE-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.

    vulncheck.com

References

Freshness

Last verified in this catalog Oct 17, 2026. Significant claims (KEV, EPSS, CVSS, affected ranges) come from the source rows above — open the original publisher for the authoritative advisory.