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iOSOperating system · Cisco

CVE-2014-3268

MEDIUM · 5.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 2014-05-20
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
59/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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 IOS 15.2(4)M4 on Cisco Unified Border Element (CUBE) devices allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (input-queue consumption and traffic-processing outage) via crafted RTCP packets, aka Bug ID CSCuj72215.

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

A vulnerability in Cisco IOS 15.2(4)M4 on Cisco Unified Border Element (CUBE) devices allows remote attackers to send crafted RTCP (Real-time Transport Control Protocol) packets that consume the input queue, causing a denial of service with traffic-processing outage.

MitigationUpdate Cisco IOS on affected CUBE devices to a patched version that addresses this vulnerability. Consider implementing RTCP traffic filtering at network boundaries as an interim measure.

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
Affected:= 15.2\(4\)m4
Unified Border ElementHardware / appliance
Affected:all versions

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
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 checks

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

  1. Confirm device is Cisco Unified Border Element
    Run 'show version' or 'show running-config | include unified border element' to verify the CUBE feature is enabled on the device
    Affected if The device is not running Cisco Unified Border Element, this CVE does not apply
  2. Identify the exact Cisco IOS version
    Run 'show version' and locate the IOS version string in the output. Look specifically for version 15.2(4)M4
    Affected if The IOS version is exactly 15.2(4)M4 - this is the only version listed as affected for plain Cisco IOS
  3. Check if CUBE version is any release
    For CUBE specifically, run 'show version' and look for any CUBE-related version identifier in the firmware or feature set line
    Affected if Any version of Cisco Unified Border Element combined with IOS 15.2(4)M4 is affected
  4. Verify RTCP is exposed to network
    Check if UDP port 5004 (RTCP) is accessible from untrusted networks by reviewing interface access lists and firewall rules with 'show access-lists'
    Affected if RTCP traffic (UDP port 5004) can reach the device input queue from external sources

The device is affected if it is running Cisco Unified Border Element with Cisco IOS version 15.2(4)M4 and has RTCP traffic reachable on the network.

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

Update Cisco IOS on affected CUBE devices to a patched version that addresses this vulnerability. Consider implementing RTCP traffic filtering at network boundaries as an interim measure.

Fix this in iOS Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
20.0 hours of engineering $3,500
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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-2014-3268 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
  • 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data