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2000 Wireless Lan ControllerHardware / appliance · Cisco

CVE-2007-2038

MEDIUM · 6.1 CVSS v2.0 Published 2007-04-16
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
66/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
The Network Processing Unit (NPU) in the Cisco Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) before 3.2.193.5, 4.0.x before 4.0.206.0, and 4.1.x allows remote attackers on a local wireless network to cause a denial of service (loss of packet forwarding) via (1) crafted SNAP packets, (2) malformed 802.11 traffic, or (3) packets with certain header length values, aka Bug ID CSCsg36361.

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 confidence

The Network Processing Unit (NPU) in Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers fails to properly handle certain locally transmitted wireless packets, including crafted SNAP packets, malformed 802.11 frames, and packets with abnormal header lengths. When the NPU processes these specially crafted packets, it causes a failure in packet forwarding, resulting in a denial of service for wireless clients. The attacker requires physical or logical proximity to the wireless network to transmit the malicious packets.

MitigationUpgrade Cisco Wireless LAN Controller to version 3.2.193.5 or later for 3.2.x, 4.0.206.0 or later for 4.0.x, or the latest 4.1.x release to patch the NPU handling vulnerability.

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
2000 Wireless Lan ControllerHardware / appliance
Affected:all versions
2100 Wireless Lan ControllerHardware / appliance
Affected:all versions
4100 Wireless Lan ControllerHardware / appliance
Affected:all versions
4400 Wireless Lan ControllerHardware / appliance
Affected:all versions

CVSS 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
Adjacent
Complexity
Low
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
Complete

AV:A/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C

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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify the Wireless LAN Controller model
    Access the WLC CLI with admin credentials and run 'show inventory' or check the controller's web interface for the hardware model identifier
    Affected if The model is a Cisco 2000, 2100, 4100, or 4400 Wireless LAN Controller
  2. Check the WLC software version
    Run 'show version' on the WLC CLI or view the software version in the web interface under Monitor > Controller > General
    Affected if The software version is below 3.2.193.5, below 4.0.206.0, or below the latest 4.1.x release (or if version cannot be determined)
  3. Verify wireless radio interfaces are enabled
    Run 'show ap config general' or 'show wireless interface' on the CLI to confirm APs are joined and radios are enabled
    Affected if Wireless radios are enabled and APs are operational, as the vulnerability triggers when the NPU processes the specially crafted wireless packets
  4. Check for wireless client connectivity issues
    Run 'show client summary' and 'show client detail' to review client association status, or monitor syslog for unexpected disconnections
    Affected if There are unexplained wireless client disconnections or failures to associate, particularly if occurring after receiving certain wireless frames from local clients
  5. Review NPU or forwarding engine status
    Run 'show proc cpu history' or 'show forwarding' to examine the NPU processing status and packet forwarding statistics
    Affected if There are anomalies in packet forwarding or elevated CPU related to wireless packet processing

If the WLC is a Cisco 2000/2100/4100/4400 model running software version prior to 3.2.193.5, 4.0.206.0, or a patched 4.1.x release, and wireless clients are experiencing unexplained connectivity issues, the environment may be affected by this vulnerability.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade Cisco Wireless LAN Controller to version 3.2.193.5 or later for 3.2.x, 4.0.206.0 or later for 4.0.x, or the latest 4.1.x release to patch the NPU handling vulnerability.

Fix this in 2000 Wireless Lan Controller Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
13.0 hours of engineering $2,280
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2007-2038 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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