Application Control Engine ModulePlugin / extension · Cisco
CVE-2012-3919
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 · uneditedThe Cisco Application Control Engine (ACE) module 3.0 for Cisco Catalyst switches and Cisco routers does not properly monitor Load Balancer (LB) queues, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (incorrect memory access and module reboot) via application traffic, aka Bug ID CSCtw70879.
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 · moderate confidenceThe Cisco Application Control Engine (ACE) module 3.0 for Cisco Catalyst switches and Cisco routers fails to properly monitor Load Balancer queues. This allows remote attackers sending application traffic to trigger incorrect memory access, causing the module to reboot and resulting in a 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
Application Control Engine ModulePlugin / extension
= 3.0CVSS 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
- Partial
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P
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 Cisco ACE module presenceCheck device inventory or running configuration for 'module ace' or 'Application Control Engine' entries. On the Cisco Catalyst switch or router, use 'show module' or 'show inventory' commands to list installed modules.Affected if No ACE module is found in the inventory, the system is not affected by this CVE.
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Verify ACE module version is 3.0On the ACE module, use 'show version' or 'show module ace version' command to display the installed ACE software version. Compare the version number against the affected range (exact version 3.0).Affected if The ACE module version is 3.0 and matches the affected product exactly.
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Confirm Load Balancer functionality is configuredExamine ACE module configuration using 'show running-config' or 'show service-policy' to determine if load balancing (probe, server farm, or class map) is actively configured.Affected if The ACE module has load balancing policies applied and is functioning as a load balancer.
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Check if ACE is processing application trafficUse 'show service-policy stats' or 'show stats loadbalancing' on the ACE module to see if traffic is actively flowing through the load balancer queues.Affected if The ACE module shows active traffic statistics, indicating application traffic is being processed through the load balancer.
A system is affected if it has a Cisco ACE module at version 3.0 configured with active load balancing that is processing application traffic, as this provides the attack surface for the memory corruption and module reboot.
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 patch for Bug ID CSCtw70879. If no patch is available (product EOL), consider network segmentation to limit exposure or migrate to a supported load balancing solution.
Fix this in Application Control Engine Module
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2012-3919 — 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-2012-3919 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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