dbcve.org
Ios XeOperating system · Cisco

CVE-2022-20694

MEDIUM · 6.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-04-15
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
77/100
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 implementation of the Resource Public Key Infrastructure (RPKI) feature of Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) process to crash, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition. This vulnerability is due to the incorrect handling of a specific RPKI to Router (RTR) Protocol packet header. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by compromising the RPKI validator server and sending a specifically crafted RTR packet to an affected device. Alternatively, the attacker could use man-in-the-middle techniques to impersonate the RPKI validator server and send a crafted RTR response packet over the established RTR TCP connection to the affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause a DoS condition because the BGP process could constantly restart and BGP routing could become unstable.

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 IOS XE Software's RPKI (Resource Public Key Infrastructure) feature allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to crash the BGP process by sending a specifically crafted RTR (RPKI to Router) Protocol packet. The flaw is in incorrect handling of the RTR packet header. Attackers can exploit this either by compromising the RPKI validator server or performing man-in-the-middle attacks on the RTR TCP connection, causing BGP to continuously restart and create routing instability.

MitigationApply the Cisco IOS XE software update when available. Additionally, secure the RPKI validator server infrastructure and consider using encrypted/authenticated channels for RTR communications to mitigate MITM attack vectors.

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
Ios XeOperating system
Affected:= 3.7.0bs= 3.7.0s= 3.7.0xas= 3.7.0xbs= 3.7.1as= 3.7.1s= 3.7.2s= 3.7.2ts= 3.7.3s= 3.7.4as= 3.7.4s= 3.7.5s

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
High
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/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 checks

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

  1. Check the IOS XE version
    Execute 'show version' or 'show version | include Version' to display the running IOS XE version
    Affected if The displayed version matches any of: 3.7.0bs, 3.7.0s, 3.7.0xas, 3.7.0xbs, 3.7.1as, 3.7.1s, 3.7.2s, 3.7.2ts, 3.7.3s, 3.7.4as, 3.7.4s, or 3.7.5s
  2. Verify if RPKI is configured
    Execute 'show ip rpki' or 'show run | include rpki' to check for RPKI configuration in the device
    Affected if RPKI is configured and operational on the device
  3. Confirm RTR protocol session status
    Execute 'show ip rpki table' or 'show ip rpki connections' to check if an RTR connection to an RPKI validator server is active
    Affected if An active RTR session exists to an RPKI validator server

The device is affected if it runs an affected IOS XE version listed above AND has RPKI with an active RTR session configured, exposing the RTR packet handling vulnerability.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply the Cisco IOS XE software update when available. Additionally, secure the RPKI validator server infrastructure and consider using encrypted/authenticated channels for RTR communications to mitigate MITM attack vectors.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Upgrade to the fixed IOS XE release as documented in the Cisco security advisory for CVE-2022-20694 (check advisory for exact version number)

  1. Identify the current Cisco IOS XE version using 'show version' command
  2. Access Cisco.com and navigate to the Cisco IOS XE Software security advisory for CVE-2022-20694
  3. Download and install the fixed IOS XE release as specified in the advisory (typically a later 3.7.x release or 3.8.x/3.9.x depending on advisory)
  4. After upgrade, verify RPKI functionality is operational with 'show ip rpki server' and 'show bgp rpki servers'
  5. Monitor BGP stability using 'show ip bgp summary' to confirm no further crashes occur
Caveat Minor: Review release notes for any RPKI-related configuration changes between 3.7.0 and the fixed version

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Ios Xe Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,200
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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-2022-20694 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