Unified Wireless Network Solution SoftwareOperating system · Cisco
CVE-2010-2979
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 Unified Wireless Network (UWN) Solution 7.x before 7.0.98.0 on 5508 series controllers allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (buffer leak and device crash) via ARP requests that trigger an ARP storm, aka Bug ID CSCte43508.
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 5508 Wireless Controller running UWN Solution 7.x versions before 7.0.98.0 contains a buffer leak vulnerability triggered by specially crafted ARP requests. Attackers can send malicious ARP packets that cause an ARP storm, exhausting buffers and causing the device to crash, resulting in denial of service.
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
Unified Wireless Network Solution SoftwareOperating system
= 7.0= 7.0.98.0CVSS 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 wireless controller modelRun 'show inventory' or 'show controller' on the Cisco device to confirm it is a Cisco 5508 Wireless ControllerAffected if The device model is not a Cisco 5508 Wireless Controller (other models may have different version schemes)
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Check the UWN Solution software versionRun 'show version' or 'show system upgrade' on the wireless controller to retrieve the Cisco Unified Wireless Network Solution Software versionAffected if The command fails to return a version number or the device does not run UWN Solution software
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Compare installed version to affected rangeVerify if the installed UWN Solution version is 7.0.x where x is less than 98, or exactly version 7.0.98.0 (note: 7.0.98.0 is also affected based on the summary)Affected if The installed version is 7.0.x (any minor version) or exactly 7.0.98.0
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Determine network exposure to ARP trafficReview network configuration and ACLs to determine if untrusted or external sources can send ARP packets directly to the wireless controller management interfaceAffected if The wireless controller management or service port is exposed to untrusted network segments without ARP traffic filtering
You are affected if you have a Cisco 5508 Wireless Controller running UWN Solution version 7.0.x or 7.0.98.0, and your device is reachable by untrusted sources that could send malicious ARP packets.
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 dataUpgrade Cisco UWN Solution to version 7.0.98.0 or later to patch the buffer leak vulnerability. If immediate upgrade is not feasible, implement network access controls to restrict untrusted sources from sending ARP traffic to the wireless controller.
Fix this in Unified Wireless Network Solution Software
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2010-2979 — 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-2010-2979 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
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