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Data Center Network ManagerApplication · Cisco

CVE-2011-4650

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.0 Published 2017-08-07
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable 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
Cisco Data Center Network Manager is affected by Excessive Logging During a TCP Flood on Java Ports. If the size of server.log becomes very big because of too much logging by the DCNM server, then the CPU utilization increases. Known Affected Releases: 5.2(1). Known Fixed Releases: 6.0(0)SL1(0.14) 5.2(2.73)S0. Product identification: CSCtt15295.

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

Cisco Data Center Network Manager (DCNM) suffers from a denial-of-service vulnerability where excessive logging occurs during TCP flood attacks on Java ports. The attack causes server.log to grow unbounded, leading to high CPU utilization and potential system unavailability. This is a resource exhaustion issue where the logging mechanism does not properly throttle or limit log output under flood conditions.

MitigationUpgrade to fixed release 6.0(0)SL1(0.14) or 5.2(2.73)S0. Additionally, implement network-level filtering or rate limiting on TCP connections to Java ports to mitigate flood attacks.

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
Data Center Network ManagerApplication
Affected:= 5.2\(1\)

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
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

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 DCNM version
    Locate and read the DCNM installation version from the installation manifest, license file, or the DCNM client/web interface version display. On the server, check typical installation directories or run the DCNM version command if available.
    Affected if The installed version is exactly 5.2(1) as shown in the version output.
  2. Verify Java port exposure
    Check DCNM configuration files or running network listeners to identify which TCP ports are configured for Java services. Common Java RMI or servlet ports in DCNM include ports in the 8000-9000 range or port 1099. Use netstat or similar tools on the DCNM server to list listening TCP ports.
    Affected if Java-based services are listening on exposed TCP ports without network-level filtering or rate limiting.
  3. Examine server.log growth patterns
    Locate the server.log file in the DCNM logs directory. Check the file size and recent modification timestamp. Review recent log entries for repetitive patterns indicating excessive logging, particularly around timestamp ranges that coincide with potential flood activity.
    Affected if The server.log file shows unusually rapid growth in size or contains repetitive log entries suggesting logging is not being throttled under load.
  4. Check CPU and system resource usage
    Monitor the DCNM server CPU utilization and disk I/O during normal and peak periods. Look for sustained high CPU usage or disk saturation that correlates with the logging activity.
    Affected if CPU utilization spikes or disk I/O becomes saturated during periods when the server.log is actively growing.
  5. Assess network filtering controls
    Review network infrastructure configurations (firewalls, ACLs, IDS/IPS) to determine if there are filters or rate limits applied to TCP traffic destined for DCNM Java ports from external or untrusted networks.
    Affected if No network-level filtering or rate limiting is configured on TCP connections to Java ports, leaving the logging mechanism vulnerable to flood-induced resource exhaustion.

A user is affected if they are running DCNM version 5.2(1) with exposed Java ports and no network filtering, resulting in unbounded server.log growth and high resource consumption during TCP flood attacks.

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 to fixed release 6.0(0)SL1(0.14) or 5.2(2.73)S0. Additionally, implement network-level filtering or rate limiting on TCP connections to Java ports to mitigate flood attacks.

Fix this in Data Center Network Manager Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,200
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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-2011-4650 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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