# CVE-2022-20823: Cisco NX-OS Software OSPFv3 Denial of Service Vulnerability

> An unauthenticated remote attacker can cause a denial of service by sending malicious OSPFv3 packets to Cisco NX-OS devices with OSPFv3 enabled.

- **Severity:** High 8.6 (`CVSS:3.1/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:** 25 Aug 2022
- **Updated:** 6 Nov 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-g29q-52vq-fhwp

## What is CVE-2022-20823?

CVE-2022-20823 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Cisco NX-OS Software, published on 25 Aug 2022. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability in the OSPF version 3 (OSPFv3) feature of Cisco NX-OS Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected device. This vulnerability is due to incomplete input validation of specific OSPFv3 packets. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a malicious OSPFv3 link-state advertisement (LSA) to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the OSPFv3 process to crash and restart multiple times, causing the affected device to reload and resulting in a DoS condition. Note: The OSPFv3 feature is disabled by default. To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker must be able to establish a full OSPFv3 neighbor state with an affected device. For more information about exploitation conditions, see the Details section of this advisory.

Weakness: CWE-125 (Out-of-bounds Read), CWE-126 (Buffer Over-read)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-20823?

It affects 147 products.


Products: Cisco Nexus 3016 Firmware, Cisco Nexus 3016q Firmware, Cisco Nexus 3048 Firmware, Cisco Nexus 3064-32t Firmware, Cisco Nexus 3064-T Firmware, Cisco Nexus 3064-X Firmware, Cisco Nexus 3064 Firmware, Cisco Nexus 3064t Firmware, Cisco Nexus 3064x Firmware, Cisco Nexus 3100-v Firmware, Cisco Nexus 3100-Z Firmware, Cisco Nexus 3100 Firmware, Cisco Nexus 3100v Firmware, Cisco Nexus 31108pc-v Firmware, Cisco Nexus 31108pv-v Firmware, Cisco Nexus 31108tc-v Firmware, Cisco Nexus 31128pq Firmware, Cisco Nexus 3132c-Z Firmware, Cisco Nexus 3132q-v Firmware, Cisco Nexus 3132q-X\/3132q-Xl Firmware and 127 more.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-20823?

No fix has been published for CVE-2022-20823 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2022-20823 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-20823 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2022-20823 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-20823 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Cisco NX-OS Software, published on 25 Aug 2022. 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-2022-20823 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Cisco NX-OS 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-2022-20823/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-20823/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-20823
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-20823
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-20823

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-20823/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.