# CVE-2017-12228: Weak cryptography in Cisco IOS and IOS XE

> Insufficient certificate validation in Cisco Network Plug and Play allows attackers to perform man-in-the-middle attacks and decrypt confidential user data.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.9 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 28 Sep 2017
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-58h4-9j5q-gmvr

## What is CVE-2017-12228?

CVE-2017-12228 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Cisco Ios, published on 28 Sep 2017. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability in the Cisco Network Plug and Play application of Cisco IOS 12.4 through 15.6 and Cisco IOS XE 3.3 through 16.4 could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to gain unauthorized access to sensitive data by using an invalid certificate. The vulnerability is due to insufficient certificate validation by the affected software. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by supplying a crafted certificate to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to conduct man-in-the-middle attacks to decrypt confidential information on user connections to the affected software. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCvc33171.

Weakness: CWE-295 (Improper Certificate Validation), CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2017-12228?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Cisco Ios, Cisco Ios Xe.

## How do I fix CVE-2017-12228?

No fix has been published for CVE-2017-12228 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2017-12228 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-12228 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Cisco Ios

- [CVE-2017-12240](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-12240/): Cisco IOS and IOS XE Software DHCP Remote Code Execution (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2017-3881](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-3881/): Cisco IOS and IOS XE Remote Code Execution (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2018-0167](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-0167/): Cisco IOS, XR, and XE Software Buffer Overflow (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2017-6736](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-6736/): Cisco IOS and IOS XE Software SNMP Remote Code Execution (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2017-6737](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-6737/): Cisco IOS and IOS XE Software SNMP Remote Code Execution (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2017-12228 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2017-12228 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Cisco Ios, published on 28 Sep 2017. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-12228 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Cisco Ios. 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-2017-12228/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-12228/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2017-12228
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-12228
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2017-12228

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-12228/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.