# CVE-2012-6396: Denial of service in n/a

> Remote authenticated users can cause a denial of service on Cisco Nexus 7000 switches by submitting crafted configurations referencing non-existent interfaces.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.9 (`AV:N/AC:H/Au:S/C:N/I:N/A:C`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 19 Jan 2013
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-8jxv-w855-pwmr

## What is CVE-2012-6396?

CVE-2012-6396 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Cisco Nx-Os, published on 19 Jan 2013. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Cisco NX-OS on Nexus 7000 series switches does not properly handle certain line-card replacements, which might allow remote authenticated users to cause a denial of service (memory consumption) via a crafted configuration that references interfaces that do not exist on the new card, aka Bug ID CSCud44300.

Weakness: CWE-399

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2012-6396?

It affects 5 products.


Products: Cisco Nexus 7000, Cisco Nexus 7000 10-Slot, Cisco Nexus 7000 18-Slot, Cisco Nexus 7000 9-Slot, Cisco Nx-Os.

## How do I fix CVE-2012-6396?

No fix has been published for CVE-2012-6396 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2012-6396 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2012-6396 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Cisco Nx-Os

- [CVE-2012-2469](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-2469/): Denial of service in n/a (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2013-1191](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-1191/): Privilege escalation in n/a (high 7.1)
- [CVE-2013-1226](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-1226/): Denial of service in n/a (medium 6.1)
- [CVE-2012-3051](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-3051/): Denial of service in n/a (medium 6.1)
- [CVE-2013-1122](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-1122/): Denial of service in n/a (medium 5.0)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2012-6396 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2012-6396 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Cisco Nx-Os, published on 19 Jan 2013. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2012-6396 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Cisco Nx-Os. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-6396/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-6396/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2012-6396
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2012-6396
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2012-6396

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-6396/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.