iOSOperating system · Cisco
CVE-2014-3299
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 · uneditedCisco IOS allows remote authenticated users to cause a denial of service (device reload) via malformed IPsec packets, aka Bug ID CSCui79745.
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 confidenceCisco IOS contains a denial of service vulnerability where remote authenticated users can send malformed IPsec packets to cause the affected device to reload. The attack requires valid authentication credentials, which somewhat limits the attack surface compared to unauthenticated vulnerabilities.
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
- 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
-
Identify the Cisco IOS versionRun 'show version' on the device CLI to display the installed IOS version and confirm it is a Cisco IOS deviceAffected if The device is running any version of Cisco IOS (all versions are affected)
-
Determine if IPsec is configuredUse 'show crypto ipsec sa' or 'show crypto isakmp sa' to check for active IPsec security associationsAffected if IPsec is enabled and has active security associations; the vulnerability only affects devices processing IPsec traffic
-
Verify IPsec access exposureReview access control lists and interface configurations to determine whether IPsec traffic can be received from untrusted or remote sourcesAffected if IPsec is accessible from networks or users outside the trusted administrative perimeter
-
Check for device reload eventsUse 'show reload' or 'show log' to examine recent system logs for unexpected reloads or crash informationAffected if The device has experienced unexplained reloads or crashes that coincide with IPsec traffic patterns
-
Review authentication methodsExamine AAA configuration and IPsec peer authentication settings using 'show running-config | include aaa' and related commandsAffected if Remote authentication is enabled for IPsec peers, allowing external authenticated users to send IPsec packets
A Cisco IOS device running any version with IPsec enabled and accessible to remote authenticated users is affected by this 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 relevant Cisco IOS security update (Bug ID CSCui79745) when available. Until patched, consider restricting IPsec traffic to trusted sources via access control lists and monitoring for unusual reload events.
Fix this in iOS
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation3.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,272.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2014-3299 — 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-2014-3299 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
Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.
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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data