Wide Area Application ServicesApplication · Cisco
CVE-2017-6628
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 SMART-SSL Accelerator functionality for Cisco Wide Area Application Services (WAAS) 6.2.1, 6.2.1a, and 6.2.3a could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition where the WAN optimization could stop functioning while the process restarts. The vulnerability is due to a Secure Sockets Layer/Transport Layer Security (SSL/TLS) alert being incorrectly handled when in a specific SSL/TLS connection state. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by establishing a SMART-SSL connection through the targeted device. The attacker would then send a crafted stream of SSL/TLS traffic. An exploit could allow the attacker to cause a DoS condition where WAN optimization could stop processing traffic for a short period of time. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCvb71133.
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 SMART-SSL Accelerator component of Cisco WAAS allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to cause a denial of service. The issue stems from improper handling of SSL/TLS alerts when the connection is in a specific state, causing the WAAS process to restart and halt WAN optimization traffic processing temporarily.
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
Wide Area Application ServicesApplication
= 6.2.1= 6.2.1a= 6.2.3aCVSS 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
- High
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify installed Cisco WAAS versionRun 'show version' or 'show waas version' command on the WAAS device CLI to retrieve the software versionAffected if Version displayed is exactly 6.2.1, 6.2.1a, or 6.2.3a
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Confirm SMART-SSL Accelerator is in useRun 'show ssl accelerator' or check SSL configuration via 'show running-config | include ssl' to see if SMART-SSL Accelerator is enabledAffected if SMART-SSL Accelerator feature is enabled and processing SSL/TLS traffic
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Check for WAAS process restartsReview system logs or run 'show process' repeatedly to identify unexpected waas (waas_manager or waas SSL) process restartsAffected if waas_manager or SSL-related processes are restarting unexpectedly without manual intervention
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Inspect SSL/TLS connection handling logsCheck logs for SSL/TLS alert messages or errors around the time of process restarts using 'show logging' or reviewing syslog exportsAffected if Logs show SSL/TLS alert handling errors correlating with process restarts
Environment is affected if running WAAS version 6.2.1, 6.2.1a, or 6.2.3a AND SMART-SSL Accelerator is enabled, with evidence of unexpected waas process restarts during SSL/TLS traffic handling.
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 dataUpgrade Cisco WAAS to a patched version that addresses Cisco Bug ID CSCvb71133. Since no workarounds are mentioned, software remediation is the primary fix.
Fix this in Wide Area Application Services
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-6628 — 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-2017-6628 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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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
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