iOSOperating system · Cisco
CVE-2014-2131
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 packet driver in Cisco IOS allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (device reload) via a series of (1) Virtual Switching Systems (VSS) or (2) Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD) packets, aka Bug IDs CSCug41049 and CSCue61890.
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 confidenceA vulnerability exists in the Cisco IOS packet driver that allows remote attackers to cause device denial of service via a series of specially crafted Virtual Switching Systems (VSS) or Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD) packets, triggering an unexpected device reload.
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
iOSOperating system
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
- Adjacent
- Complexity
- Low
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- Complete
AV:A/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.
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Confirm Cisco IOS is runningIdentify the device operating system using 'show version' or 'show inventory' commands. Look for 'Cisco IOS' in the output.Affected if The device is running Cisco IOS (all versions are affected)
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Check if VSS feature is enabledUse 'show vss' or 'show switch virtual' commands to determine if Virtual Switching System is configured and active on the device.Affected if VSS is enabled and processing traffic - this is required for the VSS attack vector
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Check if BFD feature is enabledUse 'show bfd neighbors' or 'show ip bfd neighbor' commands to determine if Bidirectional Forwarding Detection is configured and active.Affected if BFD is enabled and processing traffic - this is required for the BFD attack vector
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Verify recent unexpected reloadsReview the device crash logs using 'show crashinfo' or check the system log for any unexpected reload events that occurred without admin intervention.Affected if The device has experienced unexplained reloads while VSS or BFD features were active
A Cisco IOS device is affected if it has VSS or BFD features enabled and has processed specially crafted VSS or BFD packets, resulting in or capable of causing device reload.
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 relevant Cisco IOS software update from Cisco to address Bug IDs CSCug41049 and CSCue61890; until patched, consider network segmentation or access controls to limit exposure to unauthenticated VSS/BFD packet streams.
Fix this in iOS
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation8.0 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-2014-2131 — 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-2014-2131 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
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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