CVE-2021-1624
A vulnerability in the Rate Limiting Network Address Translation (NAT) feature of Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause high CPU utilization in the Cisco QuantumFlow Processor of an affected device, resulting in…
Does this matter?
High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (1.33%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit.
Description
A vulnerability in the Rate Limiting Network Address Translation (NAT) feature of Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause high CPU utilization in the Cisco QuantumFlow Processor of an affected device, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition. This vulnerability is due to mishandling of the rate limiting feature within the QuantumFlow Processor. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending large amounts of traffic that would be subject to NAT and rate limiting through an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the QuantumFlow Processor utilization to reach 100 percent on the affected device, resulting in a DoS condition.
- CVSS 3.1
- 8.6 HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H
- EPSS
- 1.33% probability · 71th percentile
- Public exploits
- None in Exploit-DB
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Weakness
- CWE-399
- Affected
- cisco/ios xe
- Source
- psirt@cisco.com
EPSS 1.3% since 26 October 2026; no change recorded yet. Points are recorded when the score first appears and whenever it moves by a percentage point or more.
References
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.