iOSOperating system · Cisco
CVE-2008-3798
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 · uneditedCisco IOS 12.4 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (device crash) via a normal, properly formed SSL packet that occurs during termination of an SSL session.
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 confidenceCisco IOS 12.4 contains a vulnerability where a remote attacker can cause device denial of service by sending a properly formed SSL packet during SSL session termination. The issue is triggered during normal SSL teardown rather than through malformed input, indicating a logic flaw in handling SSL session closure that causes the device to crash.
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
iOSOperating system
= 12.4= 12.4mrCVSS 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
- Complete
AV:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the Cisco IOS versionRun 'show version' from the device CLI and locate the version string in the output. Look for a main version number of 12.4 or a version containing '12.4mr'.Affected if The displayed IOS version is exactly 12.4 or any 12.4mr release (12.4(XX) or 12.4mr(X)).
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Confirm SSL-based services are configuredRun 'show ip http server status' and 'show crypto ipsec client ezvpn status' (or relevant SSL VPN show commands) to check if any SSL-based services such as HTTPS management, SSL VPN (AnyConnect, EzVPN), or other SSL-dependent features are enabled in the configuration.Affected if Any SSL-based service (HTTPS, SSL VPN, etc.) is enabled and actively listening on the device.
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Review running configuration for SSL modulesExecute 'show running-config | include ssl' or manually review the configuration for lines containing 'ssl', 'https', 'crypto' settings that indicate SSL termination services.Affected if The configuration contains SSL termination or termination-related settings.
A device is affected if it runs Cisco IOS version 12.4 or 12.4mr and has any SSL-based service enabled, as the vulnerability triggers during normal SSL session teardown.
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 Cisco IOS security update for CVE-2008-3798 (contact Cisco for specific fixed versions). If immediate patching is not possible, consider disabling SSL-based services or implementing network access controls to limit exposure to untrusted networks.
Fix this in iOS
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,560.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2008-3798 — 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-2008-3798 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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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.
- 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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