# CVE-2017-12239: Hardcoded credentials in Cisco IOS XE

> Physical attackers can access the operating system via an exposed engineering console port on specific Cisco router line cards.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 28 Sep 2017
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-gfw8-c79j-j3pr

## What is CVE-2017-12239?

CVE-2017-12239 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Cisco Ios Xe, published on 28 Sep 2017. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability in motherboard console ports of line cards for Cisco ASR 1000 Series Aggregation Services Routers and Cisco cBR-8 Converged Broadband Routers could allow an unauthenticated, physical attacker to access an affected device's operating system. The vulnerability exists because an engineering console port is available on the motherboard of the affected line cards. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by physically connecting to the console port on the line card. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to gain full access to the affected device's operating system. This vulnerability affects only Cisco ASR 1000 Series Routers that have removable line cards and Cisco cBR-8 Converged Broadband Routers, if they are running certain Cisco IOS XE 3.16 through 16.5 releases. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCvc65866, CSCve77132.

Weakness: CWE-798 (Use of Hard-coded Credentials), CWE-264

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2017-12239?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Cisco Ios Xe.

## How do I fix CVE-2017-12239?

No fix has been published for CVE-2017-12239 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2017-12239 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-12239 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Cisco Ios Xe

- [CVE-2023-20198](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-20198/): Cisco IOS XE Web UI Privilege Escalation (critical 10.0, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2018-0151](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-0151/): Cisco IOS Software and Cisco IOS XE Software Quality of Service Remote Code Execution (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2023-20273](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-20273/): Cisco IOS XE Web UI Command Injection (high 7.2, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-20188](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-20188/): Hardcoded credentials in Cisco IOS XE Software (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2021-34770](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-34770/): Cisco IOS XE Software for Catalyst 9000 Family Wireless Controllers CAPWAP Remote Code Execution Vulnerability (critical 10.0)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2017-12239 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2017-12239 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Cisco Ios Xe, published on 28 Sep 2017. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-12239 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Cisco Ios Xe. 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-2017-12239/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-12239/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2017-12239
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-12239
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2017-12239

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-12239/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.