CVE-2023-5502
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 · uneditedOn affected platforms running Arista EOS with 802.1x authentication configured on the access/trunk ports, and routing enabled on the access VLAN of the ports, a malicious supplicant may be able to bypass the requirement to perform 802.1x authentication.
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 confidenceOn Arista EOS with 802.1x authentication configured on access/trunk ports and routing enabled on the access VLAN, a malicious supplicant can bypass the 802.1x authentication requirement. This authentication bypass occurs due to an unspecified flaw in how EOS handles the interaction between 802.1x port-based access control and routed access VLANs.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
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
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
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 802.1x authentication is configured on access or trunk portsRun 'show running-config | include dot1x' or 'show dot1x all' to inspect whether 802.1x is enabled on any switch portsAffected if 802.1x configuration exists on access or trunk ports (look for 'dot1x' or 'dot1x system-auth-control' in the configuration)
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Identify access VLANs used with 802.1x portsRun 'show dot1x all' or 'show interface <interface> switchport' to determine which VLANs are assigned to ports with 802.1x enabledAffected if 802.1x is configured and associated with specific VLANs (access VLANs)
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Verify if routing is enabled on the access VLANsRun 'show ip route vlan <vlan-id>' or check 'show vlan' and 'show ip interface' to see if the 802.1x access VLAN has a layer 3 interface with an IP addressAffected if The access VLAN used with 802.1x has a layer 3 interface (SVI) with an IP address, indicating routing is enabled on that VLAN
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Confirm the Arista EOS versionRun 'show version' to display the EOS version installed on the deviceAffected if The EOS version falls within the affected version range for this CVE (compare your version to the affected releases in the Arista security advisory)
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Review port-mode and VLAN configuration for 802.1x enforcementRun 'show interface <interface> switchport' on ports with 802.1x to verify they are configured as access or trunk ports with associated VLANsAffected if Ports are in access or trunk mode with 802.1x authentication and use VLANs that also have layer 3 routing enabled
Your environment is affected if Arista EOS has 802.1x configured on access/trunk ports AND routing is enabled on the same VLANs used for 802.1x access, and the EOS version matches the affected range in the advisory.
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 dataApply the Arista EOS security update addressing CVE-2023-5502. Until patched, consider disabling routing on access VLANs with 802.1x or implementing additional network segmentation controls as a compensating measure.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-5502 — 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-2023-5502 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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