CVE-2020-3172 Cisco FXOS and NX-OS Software Cisco Discovery Protocol Arbitrary Code Execution and Denial of Service Vulnerability

High 8.8 Published 26 Feb 2020 Updated 15 Nov 2024

An adjacent attacker can execute arbitrary code as root or cause denial of service via crafted CDP packets due to insufficient validation.

Exploited in the wild: Not known
Login needed: Not needed
Attackable: Local or same network only
Victim action needed: Not needed
Fix: None listed

What is CVE-2020-3172?

CVE-2020-3172 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Cisco Firepower Extensible Operating System, published on 26 Feb 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

A vulnerability in the Cisco Discovery Protocol feature of Cisco FXOS Software and Cisco NX-OS Software could allow an unauthenticated, adjacent attacker to execute arbitrary code as root or cause a denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected device. The vulnerability exists because of insufficiently validated Cisco Discovery Protocol packet headers. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted Cisco Discovery Protocol packet to a Layer 2-adjacent affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause a buffer overflow that could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary code as root or cause a DoS condition on the affected device. Note: Cisco Discovery Protocol is a Layer 2 protocol. To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker must be in the same broadcast domain as the affected device (Layer 2 adjacent). Note: This vulnerability is different from the following Cisco FXOS and NX-OS Software Cisco Discovery Protocol vulnerabilities that Cisco announced on Feb. 5, 2020: Cisco FXOS, IOS XR, and NX-OS Software Cisco Discovery Protocol Denial of Service Vulnerability and Cisco NX-OS Software Cisco Discovery Protocol Remote Code Execution Vulnerability.

Weakness: CWE-20

Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-3172?

It affects 3 products.

Products include Cisco Firepower Extensible Operating System, Cisco Nx-Os, Cisco Ucs Manager.

How do I fix CVE-2020-3172?

No fix has been published for CVE-2020-3172 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

Upgrade to the fixed version. Memory-safe languages, compiler hardening and fuzzing prevent most new cases. More about Memory corruption.

Is CVE-2020-3172 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-3172 in the wild and no public exploit code.

All Cisco Firepower Extensible Operating System vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as GHSA-cvm3-233f-g2vf.