CVE-2020-3172

Cisco FXOS and NX-OS Software Cisco Discovery Protocol Arbitrary Code Execution and Denial of Service Vulnerability

HIGH
8.8
CVSS Score
Published: February 26, 2020 at 04:50 PM UTC
Updated: June 17, 2026 at 03:17 AM UTC
108 products affected across 1 vendorNx OSFirepower Extensible Operating SystemUcs Manager

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Severity
HIGH8.8
Exploit prediction
EPSS 2%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

A vulnerability in the Cisco Discovery Protocol feature of Cisco FXOS Software and Cisco NX-OS Software could allow an unauthenticated, adjacent attacker to execute arbitrary code as root or cause a denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected device. The vulnerability exists because of insufficiently validated Cisco Discovery Protocol packet headers. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted Cisco Discovery Protocol packet to a Layer 2-adjacent affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause a buffer overflow that could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary code as root or cause a DoS condition on the affected device. Note: Cisco Discovery Protocol is a Layer 2 protocol. To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker must be in the same broadcast domain as the affected device (Layer 2 adjacent). Note: This vulnerability is different from the following Cisco FXOS and NX-OS Software Cisco Discovery Protocol vulnerabilities that Cisco announced on Feb. 5, 2020: Cisco FXOS, IOS XR, and NX-OS Software Cisco Discovery Protocol Denial of Service Vulnerability and Cisco NX-OS Software Cisco Discovery Protocol Remote Code Execution Vulnerability.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

v < 2.6.1.1872.7 ≤ v < 2.7.1.106
Affected range stops below 2.6.1.187, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 2.7.1.106, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
cisco-firepower-4110 (environment) · cisco-firepower-4115 (environment) · cisco-firepower-4120 (environment) · cisco-firepower-4125 (environment) · cisco-firepower-4140 (environment) · cisco-firepower-4145 (environment) · cisco-firepower-4150 (environment) · cisco-firepower-9300 (environment)
cisco-mds-9132t (environment) · cisco-mds-9148s (environment) · cisco-mds-9148t (environment) · cisco-mds-9216 (environment) · cisco-mds-9216a (environment) · cisco-mds-9216i (environment) · cisco-mds-9222i (environment) · cisco-mds-9506 (environment) · cisco-mds-9509 (environment) · cisco-mds-9513 (environment) · cisco-mds-9706 (environment) · cisco-mds-9710 (environment) · cisco-mds-9718 (environment) · cisco-nexus-1000v (environment) · cisco-nexus-1000ve (environment) · cisco-nexus-3016 (environment) · cisco-nexus-3048 (environment) · cisco-nexus-3064 (environment) · cisco-nexus-3064-t (environment) · cisco-nexus-31108pc-v (environment) · cisco-nexus-31108tc-v (environment) · cisco-nexus-31128pq (environment) · cisco-nexus-3132c-z (environment) · cisco-nexus-3132q (environment) · cisco-nexus-3132q-v (environment) · cisco-nexus-3132q-xl (environment) · cisco-nexus-3164q (environment) · cisco-nexus-3172 (environment) · cisco-nexus-3172pq-xl (environment) · cisco-nexus-3172tq (environment) · cisco-nexus-3172tq-32t (environment) · cisco-nexus-3172tq-xl (environment) · cisco-nexus-3232c (environment) · cisco-nexus-3264c-e (environment) · cisco-nexus-3264q (environment) · cisco-nexus-3408-s (environment) · cisco-nexus-34180yc (environment) · cisco-nexus-3432d-s (environment) · cisco-nexus-3464c (environment) · cisco-nexus-3524 (environment) · cisco-nexus-3524-x (environment) · cisco-nexus-3524-xl (environment) · cisco-nexus-3548 (environment) · cisco-nexus-3548-x (environment) · cisco-nexus-3548-xl (environment) · cisco-nexus-36180yc-r (environment) · cisco-nexus-3636c-r (environment) · cisco-nexus-5010 (environment) · cisco-nexus-5020 (environment) · cisco-nexus-5548p (environment) · cisco-nexus-5548up (environment) · cisco-nexus-5596t (environment) · cisco-nexus-5596up (environment) · cisco-nexus-56128p (environment) · cisco-nexus-5624q (environment) · cisco-nexus-5648q (environment) · cisco-nexus-5672up (environment) · cisco-nexus-5696q (environment) · cisco-nexus-6001 (environment) · cisco-nexus-6004 (environment) · cisco-nexus-7000 (environment) · cisco-nexus-7700 (environment) · cisco-nexus-92304qc (environment) · cisco-nexus-92348gc-x (environment) · cisco-nexus-9236c (environment) · cisco-nexus-9272q (environment) · cisco-nexus-93108tc-ex (environment) · cisco-nexus-93108tc-fx (environment) · cisco-nexus-93120tx (environment) · cisco-nexus-93128tx (environment) · cisco-nexus-93180lc-ex (environment) · cisco-nexus-93180yc-ex (environment) · cisco-nexus-93180yc-fx (environment) · cisco-nexus-93216tc-fx2 (environment) · cisco-nexus-93240yc-fx2 (environment) · cisco-nexus-9332c (environment) · cisco-nexus-9332pq (environment) · cisco-nexus-93360yc-fx2 (environment) · cisco-nexus-9336c-fx2 (environment) · cisco-nexus-9336pq-aci-spine (environment) · cisco-nexus-9348gc-fxp (environment) · cisco-nexus-9364c (environment) · cisco-nexus-9372px (environment) · cisco-nexus-9372px-e (environment) · cisco-nexus-9372tx (environment) · cisco-nexus-9372tx-e (environment) · cisco-nexus-9396px (environment) · cisco-nexus-9396tx (environment) · cisco-nexus-9504 (environment) · cisco-nexus-9508 (environment) · cisco-nexus-9516 (environment)
v < 3.2\(3n\)4.0 ≤ v < 4.0\(4g\)
Affected range stops below 3.2(3n), so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 4.0(4g), so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
cisco-ucs-6248up (environment) · cisco-ucs-6296up (environment) · cisco-ucs-6324 (environment) · cisco-ucs-6332 (environment) · cisco-ucs-6332-16up (environment)
All versions
All versions
All versions
All versions
All versions
All versions

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet. What the record does show:

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatableTotal impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

Attack Vector
ADJACENT_NETWORK
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
NONE
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
HIGH
Integrity
HIGH
Availability
HIGH
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusUNDERGOING ANALYSIS
CWE
CWE-20

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