CVE-2017-12237
Cisco IOS and IOS XE Software Internet Key Exchange Denial-of-Service Vulnerability
Does this matter?
Known to be exploited in the wild (CISA KEV, CISA remediation deadline 24 March 2022). Treat as an emergency change: patch or isolate now, then hunt for prior compromise.
Description
A vulnerability in the Internet Key Exchange Version 2 (IKEv2) module of Cisco IOS 15.0 through 15.6 and Cisco IOS XE 3.5 through 16.5 could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause high CPU utilization, traceback messages, or a reload of an affected device that leads to a denial of service (DoS) condition. The vulnerability is due to how an affected device processes certain IKEv2 packets. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending specific IKEv2 packets to an affected device to be processed. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause high CPU utilization, traceback messages, or a reload of the affected device that leads to a DoS condition. This vulnerability affects Cisco devices that have the Internet Security Association and Key Management Protocol (ISAKMP) enabled. Although only IKEv2 packets can be used to trigger this vulnerability, devices that are running Cisco IOS Software or Cisco IOS XE Software are vulnerable when ISAKMP is enabled. A device does not need to be configured with any IKEv2-specific features to be vulnerable. Many features use IKEv2, including different types of VPNs such as the following: LAN-to-LAN VPN; Remote-access VPN, excluding SSL VPN; Dynamic Multipoint VPN (DMVPN); and FlexVPN. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCvc41277.
- CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- EPSS
- 7.07% probability · 94th percentile
- Public exploits
- None in Exploit-DB
- CISA KEV
- Listed 3 March 2022 · due 24 March 2022
- Weakness
- CWE-399
- Affected
- cisco/ios · cisco/ios xe
- Source
- psirt@cisco.com
EPSS 7.1% since 27 October 2026; no change recorded yet. The dashed line is the ten per cent mark our analysts treat as “patch before the next change window”. Points are recorded when the score first appears and whenever it moves by a percentage point or more.
CISA notes
Apply updates per vendor instructions. https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-12237
References
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/101037Broken Link, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1039460Broken Link, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- https://tools.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-20170927-ikeVendor Advisory
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/101037Broken Link, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1039460Broken Link, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- https://tools.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-20170927-ikeVendor Advisory
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2017-12237US Government Resource
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.