Ios XrOperating system · Cisco
CVE-2017-12270
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 in the gRPC code of Cisco IOS XR Software for Cisco Network Convergence System (NCS) 5500 Series Routers could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition when the emsd service stops. The vulnerability is due to the software's inability to process HTTP/2 packets. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a malformed HTTP/2 frame to the affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to create a DoS condition when the emsd service stops. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCvb99388.
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 vulnerability in the gRPC implementation (using HTTP/2) in Cisco IOS XR Software for NCS 5500 Series Routers allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to send malformed HTTP/2 frames to the emsd service, causing it to stop and creating a denial of service condition.
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 XrOperating 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
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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 the device hardware and software platformRun 'show version' or 'show hardware' to confirm the device is a Cisco NCS 5500 Series Router running IOS XR software. Check the IOS XR version displayed.Affected if Device is a Cisco NCS 5500 Series Router running any version of Cisco IOS XR software
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Verify the emsd service is enabledRun 'show process emsd' or check the running configuration for 'emsd' service presence using 'show configuration | include emsd' or 'show running-config | grep emsd'Affected if The emsd service is configured and running on the device
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Confirm HTTP/2 traffic handling is activeCheck if gRPC or HTTP/2 related configurations are present. Review service listener status using 'show service' or 'show tcp brief' to see if emsd is listening on expected ports.Affected if The emsd service is actively listening and processing HTTP/2 connections
A user is affected if they have a Cisco NCS 5500 Series Router running IOS XR with the emsd service enabled and exposed to network traffic.
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 Cisco patch for CSCvb99388 (IOS XR software update) or disable the emsd service if not required, and implement network-level filtering to block external malformed HTTP/2 traffic targeting the affected service.
Fix this in Ios Xr
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation3.0 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 $3,408.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-12270 — 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-2017-12270 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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- 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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