A vulnerability in the Cisco Network Plug and Play agent, also referred to as the Cisco Open Plug-n-Play agent, of Cisco IOS Software and Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a memory leak on an affected device. The vulnerability is due to insufficient input validation by the affected software. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending invalid data to the Cisco Network Plug and Play agent on an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause a memory leak on the affected device, which could cause the device to reload.
The product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource.
| Name | Vendor | Start Version | End Version |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ios | Cisco | 15.7(3.1s)m (including) | 15.7(3.1s)m (including) |
| Ios | Cisco | denali-16.3.6 (including) | denali-16.3.6 (including) |
| Ios | Cisco | everest-16.5.1 (including) | everest-16.5.1 (including) |
Mitigation of resource exhaustion attacks requires that the target system either:
The first of these solutions is an issue in itself though, since it may allow attackers to prevent the use of the system by a particular valid user. If the attacker impersonates the valid user, they may be able to prevent the user from accessing the server in question.
The second solution is simply difficult to effectively institute – and even when properly done, it does not provide a full solution. It simply makes the attack require more resources on the part of the attacker.