CVE-2017-12274
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 Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) ingress frame processing for the Cisco Aironet 1560, 2800, and 3800 Series Access Points could allow an unauthenticated, Layer 2 radio frequency (RF) adjacent attacker to cause the Access Point (AP) to reload, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition. The vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of the EAP frame. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a malformed EAP frame to the targeted device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the AP to reload, resulting in a DoS condition while the AP is reloading. It may be necessary to manually power cycle the device in order for it to recover. This vulnerability affects the following Cisco products running either the Lightweight AP Software or Mobility Express image: Aironet 1560 Series Access Points, Aironet 2800 Series Access Points, Aironet 3800 Series Access Points. Note: The Cisco Aironet 1560 Series Access Point device is supported as of release 8.3.112.0. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCve18935.
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 denial of service vulnerability exists in the Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) frame processing of Cisco Aironet 1560, 2800, and 3800 Series Access Points. An unauthenticated attacker on the same Layer 2 radio frequency segment can send a malformed EAP frame to trigger the vulnerability, causing the affected AP to reload. Manual power cycling may be required for recovery.
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 dataall versionsall versionsall 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
- Adjacent
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:A/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.
-
Identify the device modelLog into the AP or its controller and retrieve the hardware model identifier using commands such as 'show version' or via the management interface. Look for model numbers 1562, 2800, or 3800 series.Affected if The device is a Cisco Aironet 1562, 2800, or 3800 series access point.
-
Confirm the firmware versionExecute 'show version' on the AP or controller to display the installed firmware version. Compare against the affected version ranges provided.Affected if The device is one of the affected models (all firmware versions are impacted per the advisory).
-
Verify the AP is operationalPing the AP or attempt to access its management interface. Check if the device has reloaded unexpectedly by reviewing system logs or the controller's AP status.Affected if The AP is unresponsive, has recently reloaded without cause, or logs indicate an unexpected restart.
-
Assess Layer 2 network exposureIdentify devices on the same broadcast domain/Layer 2 segment as the AP. Review switch port assignments and wireless client associations to determine if untrusted or unknown devices can send frames directly to the AP.Affected if The AP is on a Layer 2 segment that includes untrusted or unknown devices who could send malformed EAP frames.
If the device is a Cisco Aironet 1562, 2800, or 3800 series AP and is accessible from untrusted Layer 2 neighbors, it is potentially affected by this vulnerability.
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-provided firmware patch for this vulnerability to affected access points. If patching is not immediately feasible, consider network segmentation to limit Layer 2 adjacency to trusted devices.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 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 $5,120.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-12274 — 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-2017-12274 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
Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.
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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data