Unified Wireless Network Solution SoftwareOperating system · Cisco
CVE-2010-2980
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 (pbuf exhaustion and device crash) via fragmented traffic, aka Bug ID CSCtd26794.
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 Unified Wireless Network Solution 7.x before 7.0.98.0 on 5508 series controllers contains a denial-of-service vulnerability where fragmented traffic causes pbuf (packet buffer) exhaustion, leading to device crash. The vulnerability is remotely exploitable without authentication and affects the wireless controller's packet processing subsystem.
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.
-
Identify the Cisco wireless controller modelLog into the Cisco wireless controller CLI and run 'show inventory' or check the physical device labeling to confirm it is a 5508 series controller. This vulnerability only affects the 5508 model.Affected if The device is not a 5508 series controller, then it is not affected by this specific CVE.
-
Determine the installed Cisco UWN Solution software versionLog into the Cisco wireless controller CLI and run 'show version' to display the software version. Look for a version number in the 7.0.x range.Affected if The displayed version is 7.0 or any 7.0.x version before 7.0.98.0 (for example, 7.0.10.0, 7.0.50.0, 7.0.95.0), then the device is vulnerable.
-
Verify the exact version number against the affected rangeCompare the version from 'show version' output to the affected range: versions 7.0 through 7.0.98.0 are affected. Versions below 7.0 and at or above 7.0.98.0 are not affected.Affected if The version falls within 7.0 to 7.0.98.0 (excluding 7.0.98.0 itself), indicating the device is vulnerable to pbuf exhaustion from fragmented traffic.
-
Assess network exposure to the vulnerabilityDetermine if the wireless controller management interface or control plane is reachable from untrusted networks. This vulnerability is remotely exploitable without authentication via network packet processing.Affected if The controller is directly accessible from external or untrusted networks, increasing the risk of exploitation.
The device is affected if it is a Cisco 5508 series wireless controller running Cisco Unified Wireless Network Solution software version 7.0 through any version before 7.0.98.0.
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. Alternatively, implement network-level filtering of fragmented traffic at upstream devices as a compensating control until the upgrade can be performed.
Fix this in Unified Wireless Network Solution Software
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation4.0 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 $3,968.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2010-2980 — 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-2010-2980 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
Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.
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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data