Application Policy Infrastructure Controller Enterprise ModulePlugin / extension · Cisco
CVE-2017-12262
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 · uneditedA vulnerability within the firewall configuration of the Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller Enterprise Module (APIC-EM) could allow an unauthenticated, adjacent attacker to gain privileged access to services only available on the internal network of the device. The vulnerability is due to an incorrect firewall rule on the device. The misconfiguration could allow traffic sent to the public interface of the device to be forwarded to the internal virtual network of the APIC-EM. An attacker that is logically adjacent to the network on which the public interface of the affected APIC-EM resides could leverage this behavior to gain access to services listening on the internal network with elevated privileges. This vulnerability affects appliances or virtual devices running Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller Enterprise Module prior to version 1.5. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCve89638.
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 confidenceA firewall misconfiguration in Cisco APIC-EM allows traffic received on the public interface to be forwarded to the internal virtual network. An attacker logically adjacent to the public interface can exploit this to reach internal network services with elevated privileges. The vulnerability stems from an incorrect firewall rule that fails to properly isolate the public interface from the internal network.
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
Application Policy Infrastructure Controller Enterprise ModulePlugin / extension
< 1.5CVSS 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
- Adjacent
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
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 Cisco APIC-EM installationLocate the Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller Enterprise Module in your environment. This is typically deployed as a virtual appliance. Check for processes or services named 'apic-em', 'APIC-EM', or look for the product in your virtualization inventory.Affected if The system is running Cisco APIC-EM software
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Check installed APIC-EM versionAccess the APIC-EM controller via CLI or administrative web interface and retrieve the software version. In the CLI, this is typically shown on login or via 'show version' command. In the web GUI, check About or System settings.Affected if The installed version is lower than 1.5 (e.g., 1.4.x, 1.3.x, etc.)
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Examine firewall rules on public interfaceAccess the APIC-EM administrative interface and review firewall or access control list (ACL) configurations. Specifically inspect rules applied to the public-facing network interface. Look for any rules that permit forwarding or routing from the public interface subnet to the internal virtual network subnet.Affected if A firewall rule exists that allows traffic received on the public interface to be forwarded or routed to internal network subnets
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Verify network interface isolationCheck the network configuration of the APIC-EM virtual appliance. Identify the public interface (typically connected to an external or DMZ network) and the internal interface (connected to the internal virtual network). Confirm whether Layer 3 routing or Layer 2 bridging exists between these two interfaces.Affected if The public interface is not properly isolated from the internal virtual network and can forward traffic inward
A system is affected if it runs Cisco APIC-EM version prior to 1.5 and has firewall rules that allow traffic from the public interface to be forwarded to internal network segments.
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 data1.5
Upgrade to Cisco APIC-EM version 1.5 or later, and review/correct firewall rules to ensure traffic from the public interface cannot be forwarded to internal networks.
Fix this in Application Policy Infrastructure Controller Enterprise Module
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,728.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-12262 — 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-2017-12262 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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