Findit Network Discovery UtilityApplication · Cisco
CVE-2017-12314
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 Cisco FindIT Network Discovery Utility could allow an authenticated, local attacker to perform a DLL preloading attack, potentially causing a partial impact to the device availability, confidentiality, and integrity, aka Insecure Library Loading. The vulnerability is due to the application loading a malicious copy of a specific, nondefined DLL file instead of the DLL file it was expecting. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by placing an affected DLL within the search path of the host system. An exploit could allow the attacker to load a malicious DLL file into the system, thus partially compromising confidentiality, integrity, and availability on the device. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCvf37955.
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 · moderate confidenceThe Cisco FindIT Network Discovery Utility is vulnerable to DLL preloading (insecure library loading). The application loads a malicious copy of a specific, nondefined DLL file from the system search path instead of the expected legitimate DLL. An authenticated local attacker can place a crafted DLL within the search path to achieve code execution with the application's privileges, partially compromising confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
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
Findit Network Discovery UtilityApplication
= 2.1CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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.
-
Verify Cisco FindIT Network Discovery Utility is installedCheck the system for the presence of Cisco FindIT Network Discovery Utility - typically found in Program Files or Program Files (x86) directories, or check the Windows registry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall for an entry named 'Cisco FindIT Network Discovery Utility'Affected if The application is installed on the system
-
Confirm installed version is 2.1Locate the application's executable (usually named FindITNetworkDiscovery.exe or similar) and check its version properties, or look at the version in the Windows uninstall registry entryAffected if The installed version is exactly 2.1 (this specific version is listed as affected)
-
Examine application directory for DLL filesNavigate to the installation directory of Cisco FindIT Network Discovery Utility and list all DLL files present in that folderAffected if The application directory contains DLL files that could be targets for preloading attacks
-
Check for insecure DLL loading behaviorReview the application binary or its configuration to determine if it loads DLLs without using absolute paths, or use a process monitoring tool to observe DLL load attempts at runtimeAffected if The application loads DLLs from the system search path without specifying absolute paths, enabling DLL preloading
-
Verify local attacker could place malicious DLLCheck file system permissions on the application directory and common search path locations (current working directory, system directories, PATH directories) to determine if a local authenticated user can write to any location the application searches for DLLsAffected if A local authenticated attacker can write to a directory in the DLL search path used by the application
The environment is affected if Cisco FindIT Network Discovery Utility version 2.1 is installed and the application uses insecure DLL loading that allows a local attacker to place a crafted DLL in the search path for code execution with application privileges.
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 dataRemove or rename the vulnerable unused DLL file from the application directory, or apply the vendor patch (CSCvf37955) when available. Implement secure DLL search order by using absolute paths for DLL loading.
Fix this in Findit Network Discovery Utility
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-2017-12314 — 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-2017-12314 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