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Ios XeOperating system · Cisco

CVE-2015-6268

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v2.0 Published 2015-08-29
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
87/100
Remediation priority · High
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 XE before 2.2.3 on ASR 1000 devices allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (Embedded Services Processor crash) via a crafted IPv4 UDP packet, aka Bug ID CSCsw95482.

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

Cisco IOS XE before version 2.2.3 on ASR 1000 devices contains a vulnerability in IPv4 UDP packet processing that allows remote attackers to crash the Embedded Services Processor (ESP) via crafted UDP packets, causing denial of service.

MitigationUpgrade Cisco IOS XE to version 2.2.3 or later on affected ASR 1000 devices. If immediate upgrade is not possible, consider implementing ACLs to limit untrusted UDP traffic reaching the device until the upgrade can be scheduled.

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
Ios XeOperating system
Affected:= 2.2.1= 2.2.2

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
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 checks

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

  1. Confirm ASR 1000 hardware platform
    Run 'show version' or 'show inventory' and look for 'ASR' or '1000' in the output
    Affected if Device model is not an ASR 1000 series (the vulnerability only affects ASR 1000 devices)
  2. Identify IOS XE version
    Run 'show version' and locate the 'Cisco IOS XE' version string in the output
    Affected if Version is 2.2.1 or 2.2.2 exactly; versions before 2.2.1 are not affected, and 2.2.3 and later contain the fix
  3. Check for active IPv4 UDP configurations
    Run 'show ip interface' or 'show running-config | include udp' to see if UDP-based services are enabled
    Affected if IPv4 UDP services are active and the device is processing UDP traffic on any interface
  4. Verify ESP processor status
    Run 'show platform' or 'show hardware' commands to confirm the Embedded Services Processor (ESP) is present and active
    Affected if ESP is present and version 2.2.1/2.2.2 is running - the crash only occurs on the ESP

A user is affected if they are running Cisco IOS XE version 2.2.1 or 2.2.2 on an ASR 1000 series device with active IPv4 UDP traffic processing.

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

Upgrade Cisco IOS XE to version 2.2.3 or later on affected ASR 1000 devices. If immediate upgrade is not possible, consider implementing ACLs to limit untrusted UDP traffic reaching the device until the upgrade can be scheduled.

Fix this in Ios Xe Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
16.0 hours of engineering $2,840
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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-2015-6268 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