# CVE-2020-3175: Cisco MDS 9000 Series Multilayer Switches Denial of Service Vulnerability

> Remote attackers can cause denial of service on Cisco MDS switches by flooding the management interface with high-rate traffic.

- **Severity:** High 8.6 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 26 Feb 2020
- **Updated:** 15 Nov 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-wmrh-48xq-4cvm

## What is CVE-2020-3175?

CVE-2020-3175 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Cisco Nx-Os, published on 26 Feb 2020. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability in the resource handling system of Cisco NX-OS Software for Cisco MDS 9000 Series Multilayer Switches could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected device. The vulnerability is due to improper resource usage control. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending traffic to the management interface (mgmt0) of an affected device at very high rates. An exploit could allow the attacker to cause unexpected behaviors such as high CPU usage, process crashes, or even full system reboots of an affected device.

Weakness: CWE-400 (Uncontrolled Resource Consumption), CWE-664 (Improper Control of a Resource Through its Lifetime)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-3175?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Cisco Nx-Os.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-3175?

No fix has been published for CVE-2020-3175 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2020-3175 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-3175 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-2020-3175 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-3175 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Cisco Nx-Os, published on 26 Feb 2020. 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-2020-3175 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-2020-3175/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-3175/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-3175
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-3175
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-3175

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-3175/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.