Unified Computing SystemHardware / appliance · Cisco
CVE-2012-4079
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 XML API service in the Fabric Interconnect component in Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (API service outage) via a malformed XML document in a packet, aka Bug ID CSCtg48206.
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 XML API service in the Fabric Interconnect component of Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) is vulnerable to a denial of service condition when processing malformed XML documents. Remote attackers can send specially crafted packets containing malformed XML, causing the API service to become unavailable.
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 Computing SystemHardware / appliance
all versionsCVSS 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 UCS Fabric Interconnect deploymentInventory the network for Cisco Unified Computing System Fabric Interconnect devices. Check for device type 'N9K' or 'M' series fabric interconnect switches in the infrastructure.Affected if Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect hardware is present in the environment
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Verify XML API service is enabledLog into UCS Manager (UCSM) or the Fabric Interconnect CLI. Navigate to the Admin section or check service status. The XML API is typically accessible on ports 80/443 or 8080/8443.Affected if The XML API service is configured and running on the Fabric Interconnect
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Check network accessibility of XML APIFrom an untrusted network segment, attempt to reach the XML API endpoint on the Fabric Interconnect IP address using HTTP/HTTPS. Use a port scanner to verify ports 80, 443, 8080, or 8443 are reachable from outside the management network.Affected if The XML API service ports are exposed to untrusted or external networks
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Look for service availability issuesReview system logs, UCS Manager alarms, or management station alerts for XML API service crashes, restarts, or denial of service events. Check for messages indicating malformed XML processing failures.Affected if The XML API service has experienced unexpected restarts or unavailability issues
The environment is affected if Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect with the XML API service is deployed and the service is network-accessible to untrusted sources, since all versions contain the vulnerability.
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 CSCtg48206 to the affected UCS Fabric Interconnect components. If a patch is unavailable, consider network segmentation or firewall rules to limit API access to trusted sources.
Fix this in Unified Computing System
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation3.0 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-2012-4079 — 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-2012-4079 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
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