dbcve.org
Wireless Lan Controller SoftwareOperating system · Cisco

CVE-2017-12275

HIGH · 7.4 CVSS v3.0 Published 2017-11-02
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
79/100
Remediation priority · High
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
A vulnerability in the implementation of 802.11v Basic Service Set (BSS) Transition Management functionality in Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers could allow an unauthenticated, adjacent attacker to cause an affected device to reload unexpectedly, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition. The vulnerability is due to insufficient input validation of 802.11v BSS Transition Management Response packets that an affected device receives from wireless clients. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a malformed 802.11v BSS Transition Management Response packet to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the affected device to reload unexpectedly, resulting in a DoS condition. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCvb57803.

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

A vulnerability in Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers exists in the 802.11v BSS Transition Management functionality where insufficient input validation of malformed BSS Transition Management Response packets from wireless clients causes an unexpected device reload, resulting in denial of service. An unauthenticated, adjacent attacker within wireless range can exploit this by sending specially crafted packets.

MitigationApply the Cisco firmware update for CSCvb57803 to affected Wireless LAN Controllers. Until patched, consider deploying wireless intrusion prevention systems or network segmentation to filter suspicious 802.11v traffic.

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
Wireless Lan Controller SoftwareOperating system
Affected:all versions

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
Adjacent
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/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 checks

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

  1. Confirm Cisco Wireless LAN Controller is in use
    Identify if the network device is a Cisco Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) by checking the device model number or using 'show inventory' CLI command. This vulnerability only affects Cisco WLC platforms.
    Affected if The device is identified as a Cisco Wireless LAN Controller model.
  2. Verify 802.11v BSS Transition Management is enabled
    Run 'show 802.11v' or check via WLC GUI under Wireless > 802.11v to see if BSS Transition Management is turned on. The vulnerability triggers when processing malformed BSS Transition Management Response packets, so the feature must be active.
    Affected if 802.11v BSS Transition Management is enabled on the controller.
  3. Check for unexpected device reloads or crashes
    Review WLC logs and system message logs using 'show log' for evidence of unexpected reloads or core dumps. Look for timestamps correlating with potential attack windows from adjacent wireless clients.
    Affected if The controller has experienced unexplained reloads or system errors.
  4. Review wireless client association patterns
    Use 'show client summary' and 'show client detail' to examine connected wireless clients. An attacker must be within wireless range to send the malformed 802.11v Response packets.
    Affected if There are unknown or unexpected wireless clients associated near the controller that could be sending crafted packets.

If the device is a Cisco Wireless LAN Controller with 802.11v BSS Transition Management enabled, it is vulnerable to this CVE regardless of software version.

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

Apply the Cisco firmware update for CSCvb57803 to affected Wireless LAN Controllers. Until patched, consider deploying wireless intrusion prevention systems or network segmentation to filter suspicious 802.11v traffic.

Fix this in Wireless Lan Controller Software Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
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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-2017-12275 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