Content Services Switch 11000Hardware / appliance · Cisco
CVE-2003-1132
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedThe DNS server for Cisco Content Service Switch (CSS) 11000 and 11500, when prompted for a nonexistent AAAA record, responds with response code 3 (NXDOMAIN or "Name Error") instead of response code 0 ("No Error"), which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (inaccessible domain) by forcing other DNS servers to send and cache a request for a AAAA record to the vulnerable server.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceThe Cisco CSS 11000 and 11500 DNS server returns incorrect response codes when queried for nonexistent AAAA records. Instead of returning code 0 (No Error), it returns code 3 (NXDOMAIN), causing downstream DNS servers to cache this false NXDOMAIN response and resulting in denial of service for the affected domain.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data
Content Services Switch 11000Hardware / appliance
all versions
Content Services Switch 11500Hardware / appliance
all versionsCVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- Partial
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the device modelCheck the physical device or login to the device CLI and run 'show system' or check the boot output for the model number. Confirm it is a Cisco Content Services Switch 11000 or 11500.Affected if The device is a Cisco CSS 11000 or CSS 11500
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Confirm DNS server feature is enabledIn the CSS CLI, run 'show running-config' and look for DNS server configuration, or run 'show dns' to check DNS server status.Affected if DNS server functionality is configured and active on the device
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Query the DNS server for a nonexistent AAAA recordUse a DNS query tool (dig, nslookup) from an external client to query the CSS DNS server for an AAAA record of a domain that does not exist (e.g., dig @<CSS-DNS-IP> nonexistentdomain123456.com AAAA).Affected if The DNS server is accessible and responding to queries
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Analyze the DNS response codeExamine the response code in the DNS reply. A correct response for a nonexistent AAAA record should be code 0 (No Error) with an empty answer section. An affected server returns code 3 (NXDOMAIN).Affected if The response code is 3 (NXDOMAIN) instead of 0 (No Error) for a nonexistent AAAA record query
You are affected if you are running a Cisco CSS 11000 or 11500 with the DNS server feature enabled and it returns NXDOMAIN (code 3) when queried for nonexistent AAAA records.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataApply the relevant Cisco software update/patch for the CSS 11000/11500 to correct the DNS response code handling, or upgrade to a supported platform if patches are unavailable.
Fix this in Content Services Switch 11000
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,120.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2003-1132 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2003-1132 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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