Iot Field Network DirectorApplication · Cisco
CVE-2020-3162
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 Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP) implementation of Cisco IoT Field Network Director could allow an unauthenticated remote attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected device. The vulnerability is due to insufficient input validation of incoming CoAP traffic. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a malformed CoAP packet to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to force the CoAP server to stop, interrupting communication to the IoT endpoints.
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 Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP) implementation of Cisco IoT Field Network Director allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to send malformed CoAP packets to an affected device. Due to insufficient input validation of incoming CoAP traffic, the malformed packet causes the CoAP server to stop, creating a denial of service condition that interrupts communication with IoT endpoints.
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
Iot Field Network DirectorApplication
< 4.6.0CVSS 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:3.1/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Confirm Cisco IoT Field Network Director is installedLocate the IoT Field Network Director installation directory or check system services for a process named 'iotfnd' or similar Cisco IoT FND serviceAffected if The product is present on the system
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Check installed version against affected rangeUse the product's web interface (navigate to Administration > Software Updates or Help > About) or run 'show version' command via the FND CLI if available, to determine the exact version numberAffected if The installed version is any release prior to 4.6.0
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Verify CoAP server is enabled and runningCheck the IoT Field Network Director configuration for CoAP services or inspect running processes for CoAP-related daemons; CoAP must be active for the vulnerability to be exploitableAffected if CoAP server/service is enabled and listening on UDP ports 5683 or 5684
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Review system logs for CoAP server crashesExamine logs in the IoT Field Network Director log directory (typically under /opt/cisco/iotfnd/logs or similar) for entries indicating CoAP server failures, sudden restarts, or input validation errorsAffected if Logs show recent CoAP server termination events or unexpected service restarts
A system is affected if Cisco IoT Field Network Director is running with a version lower than 4.6.0 and has CoAP services enabled, exposing the CoAP server to malformed packet DoS attacks.
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 data4.6.0
Apply the vendor patch for CVE-2020-3162 from Cisco to remediate the insufficient input validation vulnerability in the CoAP implementation. As an interim measure, implement network-level filtering at the perimeter to block malformed CoAP packets until the patch can be applied.
Fix this in Iot Field Network Director
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing6.0 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 $3,552.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-3162 — 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-2020-3162 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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