Headend System ReleaseOperating system · Cisco
CVE-2015-4230
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 · uneditedMemory leak in Cisco Headend System Release allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (memory consumption) via unspecified vectors, aka Bug ID CSCus91854.
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 confidenceMemory leak vulnerability in Cisco Headend System Release allows remote attackers to exhaust system memory by sending unspecified vectors, leading to denial of service. The vulnerability stems from improper memory management where allocated memory is not properly released, causing progressive memory consumption until the system becomes 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
Headend System ReleaseOperating 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
- None
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- Complete
AV:N/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 Headend System Release is deployedIdentify the installed product by checking system documentation, running 'show version' on the Cisco device CLI, or checking the system's software identifier. This product is typically part of Cisco's digital video headend infrastructure.Affected if The system is confirmed to be running Cisco Headend System Release software (any version)
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Monitor system memory usageExecute memory monitoring commands available on the Cisco Headend System (such as 'show memory' or platform-specific health check commands). Record current used/available memory values.Affected if Memory usage shows abnormally high consumption approaching system limits (typically above 80-90% of available memory)
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Check for progressive memory growthCollect memory usage snapshots over a 15-30 minute period. Compare the memory consumption trend to identify if memory is continuously increasing without returning to baseline levels.Affected if Memory usage progressively increases over time without stabilization, indicating a potential memory leak condition
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Verify denial of service conditionCheck system responsiveness and available services. Look for symptoms such as slow response, service timeouts, inability to process requests, or system unresponsiveness correlated with high memory usage.Affected if System is experiencing denial of service symptoms (unresponsive, slow, or unavailable services) concurrent with memory exhaustion
A system is affected if it is running any version of Cisco Headend System Release and exhibits progressive memory consumption leading to denial of service conditions.
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 dataContact Cisco support to obtain the vendor patch for this vulnerability (CSCus91854). Implement network segmentation and rate limiting as interim controls to reduce attack surface while waiting for the official fix.
Fix this in Headend System Release
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,160.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2015-4230 — 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-2015-4230 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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