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Connected Grid Network Management SystemApplication · Cisco

CVE-2017-6780

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.0 Published 2017-09-07
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 3.2.0-182 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable 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 TCP throttling process for Cisco IoT Field Network Director (IoT-FND) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause the system to consume additional memory, eventually forcing the device to restart, aka Memory Exhaustion. The vulnerability is due to insufficient rate-limiting protection. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a high rate of TCP packets to a specific group of open listening ports on a targeted device. An exploit could allow the attacker to cause the system to consume additional memory. If enough available memory is consumed, the system will restart, creating a temporary denial of service (DoS) condition. The DoS condition will end after the device has finished the restart process. This vulnerability affects the following Cisco products: Connected Grid Network Management System, if running a software release prior to IoT-FND Release 4.0; IoT Field Network Director, if running a software release prior to IoT-FND Release 4.0. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCvc77164.

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 memory exhaustion vulnerability exists in Cisco IoT Field Network Director (IoT-FND) due to insufficient TCP rate-limiting protection. An unauthenticated remote attacker can send a high rate of TCP packets to specific listening ports, causing excessive memory consumption that forces the device to restart, creating a temporary denial of service.

MitigationUpgrade to IoT-FND Release 4.0 or later, which contains the fix for the insufficient rate-limiting protection. If immediate upgrade is not feasible, consider network-level filtering to limit suspicious TCP traffic to the affected ports.

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
Connected Grid Network Management SystemApplication
Affected:<= 3.0\(0.54\)
Iot Field Network DirectorApplication
Affected:<= 3.2.0-182

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
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 checks

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

  1. Identify installed Cisco IoT-FND version
    Access the IoT-FND web interface and navigate to Administration > System Information, or use the CLI command 'show version' if available. Record the exact version number displayed.
    Affected if The version is 3.2.0-182 or earlier (any version up to and including 3.2.0-182)
  2. Identify installed Cisco Connected Grid Network Management System version
    Access the CG-NMS web interface or use CLI to retrieve the version. Look for a version displayed as '3.0(0.54)' or earlier.
    Affected if The version is 3.0(0.54) or earlier
  3. Identify listening TCP ports on the affected system
    Run 'netstat -tuln' or 'ss -tuln' on the IoT-FND/CG-NMS server to list all listening TCP ports. Note the port numbers and their associated services.
    Affected if Any TCP ports are listening and accessible from the network (the vulnerability exploits any exposed listening port)
  4. Check for signs of memory exhaustion or unexpected restarts
    Review system logs via 'grep -i error /var/log/messages' or check IoT-FND internal logs for memory-related errors, OOM (out of memory) messages, or unexpected service restarts.
    Affected if Memory exhaustion errors or unexplained service/device restarts are occurring
  5. Verify network accessibility of the IoT-FND management interface
    Confirm that the IoT-FND management ports are accessible from untrusted networks by attempting TCP connections to common IoT-FND ports from an external host, or by reviewing firewall rules.
    Affected if IoT-FND ports are exposed to untrusted or external networks without adequate filtering

Your environment is affected if you are running Cisco IoT-FND version 3.2.0-182 or earlier, or Cisco Connected Grid Network Management System version 3.0(0.54) or earlier, and the management interface is network-accessible.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 3.2.0-182
Interim mitigation

Upgrade to IoT-FND Release 4.0 or later, which contains the fix for the insufficient rate-limiting protection. If immediate upgrade is not feasible, consider network-level filtering to limit suspicious TCP traffic to the affected ports.

Fix this in Connected Grid Network Management System Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,480
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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-2017-6780 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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