# CVE-2017-12342: Privilege escalation in Cisco Nexus Series Switches

> An unauthenticated local attacker can execute code on the host OS via the Open Agent Container feature, which requires manual activation.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.8 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:L`)
- **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:** 30 Nov 2017
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-8722-v7g5-qcvv

## What is CVE-2017-12342?

CVE-2017-12342 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Cisco Nx-Os, published on 30 Nov 2017. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability in the Open Agent Container (OAC) feature of Cisco Nexus Series Switches could allow an unauthenticated, local attacker to read and send packets outside the scope of the OAC. The vulnerability is due to insufficient internal security measures in the OAC feature. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by crafting specific packets for communication on the device-internal network. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to run code on the underlying host operating system. OAC is not enabled by default. For a device to be vulnerable, an administrator would need to install and activate this feature. This vulnerability affects the following Cisco Nexus Series Switches: Nexus 2000 Series Fabric Extenders, Nexus 5000 Series Switches, Nexus 5500 Platform Switches, Nexus 5600 Platform Switches, Nexus 6000 Series Switches, Nexus 7000 Series Switches, Nexus 7700 Series Switches. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCve53542, CSCvf36621.

Weakness: CWE-668 (Exposure of Resource to Wrong Sphere), CWE-264

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2017-12342?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Cisco Nx-Os.

## How do I fix CVE-2017-12342?

No fix has been published for CVE-2017-12342 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2017-12342 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-12342 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Cisco Nx-Os

- [CVE-2024-20399](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-20399/): Cisco NX-OS Command Injection (medium 6.0, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2021-1361](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-1361/): Cisco NX-OS Software Unauthenticated Arbitrary File Actions Vulnerability (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2018-0301](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-0301/): Memory corruption in Cisco NX-OS unknown (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2016-1453](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-1453/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2016-1341](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-1341/): Hardcoded credentials in n/a (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2017-12342 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2017-12342 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Cisco Nx-Os, published on 30 Nov 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-2017-12342 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-2017-12342/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-12342/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2017-12342
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-12342
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2017-12342

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-12342/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.