# CVE-2020-3262: Cisco Wireless LAN Controller CAPWAP Denial of Service Vulnerability

> Unauthenticated remote attackers can cause a denial of service on Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers by sending malformed CAPWAP packets, requiring a software patch.

- **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:** 15 Apr 2020
- **Updated:** 15 Nov 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-h4wq-fxpq-gmg2

## What is CVE-2020-3262?

CVE-2020-3262 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Cisco Aironet Access Point Software, published on 15 Apr 2020. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability in the Control and Provisioning of Wireless Access Points (CAPWAP) protocol handler of Cisco Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected device. The vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of CAPWAP packets. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a malformed CAPWAP packet to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the affected device to restart, resulting in a DoS condition.

Weakness: CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-3262?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Cisco 5508 Wireless Controller Firmware, Cisco 5520 Wireless Controller Firmware.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-3262?

No fix has been published for CVE-2020-3262 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2020-3262 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-3262 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Cisco Aironet Access Point Software

- [CVE-2020-3273](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-3273/): Cisco Wireless LAN Controller 802.11 Generic Advertisement Service Denial of Service Vulnerability (high 8.6)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-3262 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-3262 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Cisco Aironet Access Point Software, published on 15 Apr 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-2020-3262 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Cisco Aironet Access Point Software. 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-2020-3262/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-3262/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-3262
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-3262
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-3262

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-3262/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.