# CVE-2020-3273: Cisco Wireless LAN Controller 802.11 Generic Advertisement Service Denial of Service Vulnerability


- **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
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 15 Apr 2020
- **Updated:** 15 Nov 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-27gx-92r4-wr88

## What is CVE-2020-3273?

CVE-2020-3273 is a high-severity vulnerability in Cisco Wireless LAN Controller (WLC), published on 15 Apr 2020. 

### Official description

A vulnerability in the 802.11 Generic Advertisement Service (GAS) frame processing function of Cisco Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause an affected device to reload, resulting in a denial of service (DoS). The vulnerability is due to incomplete input validation of the 802.11 GAS frames that are processed by an affected device. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted 802.11 GAS frame over the air to an access point (AP), and that frame would then be relayed to the affected WLC. Also, an attacker with Layer 3 connectivity to the WLC could exploit this vulnerability by sending a malicious 802.11 GAS payload in a Control and Provisioning of Wireless Access Points (CAPWAP) packet to the device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the affected device to reload, resulting in a DoS.

Weakness: CWE-119 (Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-3273?

It affects 2 products.


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

## How do I fix CVE-2020-3273?

No fix has been published for CVE-2020-3273 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2020-3273 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-3273 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Cisco Wireless LAN Controller (WLC)

- [CVE-2020-3262](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-3262/): Cisco Wireless LAN Controller CAPWAP Denial of Service Vulnerability (high 8.6)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-3273 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-3273 is a high-severity vulnerability in Cisco Wireless LAN Controller (WLC), published on 15 Apr 2020. 
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-3273 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Cisco Wireless LAN Controller (WLC). 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-2020-3273/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-3273/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-3273
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-3273
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-3273

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-3273/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.