iOSOperating system · Cisco
CVE-2014-7998
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 on Aironet access points, when "dot11 aaa authenticator" debugging is enabled, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service via a malformed EAP packet, aka Bug ID CSCul15509.
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 denial of service vulnerability exists in Cisco IOS on Aironet access points when the 'dot11 aaa authenticator' debugging feature is enabled. Remote attackers can send malformed EAP (Extensible Authentication Protocol) packets to trigger the condition, causing the device to crash or become unresponsive.
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
- M
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- Complete
AV:N/AC:M/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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Identify the device modelExecute 'show version' or 'show inventory' on the Cisco device to confirm it is an Aironet access point running Cisco iOSAffected if The device is not a Cisco Aironet access point running iOS - this vulnerability only affects Aironet APs
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Check if the dot11 aaa authenticator debugging feature is enabledRun 'show running-config | include dot11 aaa authenticator' or 'show debug' to see if the debugging feature is activeAffected if The 'dot11 aaa authenticator' debugging feature is not enabled - the vulnerability requires this specific debugging feature to be active
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Verify the device is network reachableConfirm the device management interface is accessible from untrusted networks by reviewing the access control lists or interface configurationsAffected if The device is not exposed to remote attackers - the denial of service requires the attacker to send malformed EAP packets to the device
You are affected if this is a Cisco Aironet access point running iOS with the 'dot11 aaa authenticator' debugging feature enabled and the device is network-accessible to remote attackers.
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 dataDisable the 'dot11 aaa authenticator' debugging feature on affected Aironet access points when not actively troubleshooting, and restrict management access to trusted networks to prevent unauthenticated remote attackers from sending malicious packets.
Fix this in iOS
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 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 $1,696.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2014-7998 — 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-2014-7998 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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