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Intrusion Prevention SystemApplication · Cisco

CVE-2014-2103

MEDIUM · 6.8 CVSS v2.0 Published 2014-02-27
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
74/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable 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 Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) Software allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (MainApp process outage) via malformed SNMP packets, aka Bug IDs CSCum52355 and CSCul49309.

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 Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) Software contains a vulnerability where malformed SNMP packets sent remotely can cause the MainApp process to crash, resulting in a denial of service condition. The vulnerability is caused by improper handling of specific SNMP packet structures in the IPS sensor software.

MitigationApply the relevant Cisco IPS software update that addresses Bug IDs CSCum52355 and CSCul49309. As a workaround, restrict SNMP access to trusted management networks and implement network segmentation to limit exposure to untrusted remote attackers.

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
Intrusion Prevention SystemApplication
Affected:= 5.1= 6.0= 6.0.2.0= 7.0= 7.0\(1\)e3= 7.0\(2\)e3= 7.0\(2\)e4= 7.0\(3\)e4= 7.0\(4\)e4= 7.0\(5a\)e4= 7.0\(6\)e4= 7.0\(7\)e4

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
Authentication
Single
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
Complete

AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify Cisco IPS installation and version
    Log into the Cisco IPS CLI (or use Cisco IPS Manager) and run the command 'show version' or 'show module' to display the IPS software version installed on the sensor.
    Affected if The displayed version matches one of the affected versions: 5.1, 6.0, 6.0.2.0, 7.0, 7.0(1)e3, 7.0(2)e3, 7.0(2)e4, 7.0(3)e4, 7.0(4)e4, 7.0(5a)e4, 7.0(6)e4, or 7.0(7)e4.
  2. Verify SNMP is enabled on the IPS sensor
    In the Cisco IPS CLI, run the command 'show snmp' or access the IPS sensor configuration to check whether SNMP is configured and enabled.
    Affected if SNMP is enabled and configured, as the vulnerability requires the IPS sensor to process SNMP packets.
  3. Check SNMP access control and community strings
    Run 'show snmp' and review the SNMP configuration to determine which IP addresses or networks are permitted to send SNMP packets to the sensor, and identify any configured community strings.
    Affected if SNMP access is granted to untrusted or external networks (for example, any IP address or a broad network range), which would allow remote attackers to send malicious SNMP packets.
  4. Confirm network exposure of SNMP service
    From an external or untrusted network segment, attempt to send an SNMP query (such as using snmpwalk or snmpget) to the IPS sensor's IP address on UDP ports 161 or 162 to verify SNMP is reachable from untrusted networks.
    Affected if SNMP queries succeed from untrusted networks, indicating the sensor is exposed to remote attackers who could exploit this vulnerability.

You are affected if your Cisco IPS version matches one of the listed affected versions AND SNMP is enabled and accessible from untrusted networks, allowing remote attackers to send malformed SNMP packets that can crash the MainApp process.

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

Apply the relevant Cisco IPS software update that addresses Bug IDs CSCum52355 and CSCul49309. As a workaround, restrict SNMP access to trusted management networks and implement network segmentation to limit exposure to untrusted remote attackers.

Fix this in Intrusion Prevention System Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
20.0 hours of engineering $3,440
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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-2014-2103 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

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.

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