Cisco IOS up to 12.4 System Timer heap-based overflow

CVSS Meta Temp Score
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CTI Interest Score
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6.6$0-$5k0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Cisco IOS up to 12.4 and classified as critical. The impacted element is an unknown function of the component System Timer. The manipulation results in heap-based overflow. This vulnerability is identified as CVE-2005-3481. The attack can be executed remotely. There is not any exploit available. It is suggested to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, was found in Cisco IOS up to 12.4 (Router Operating System). Affected is an unknown code of the component System Timer. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a heap-based overflow vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-122. A heap overflow condition is a buffer overflow, where the buffer that can be overwritten is allocated in the heap portion of memory, generally meaning that the buffer was allocated using a routine such as malloc(). This is going to have an impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

Cisco IOS 12.0 to 12.4 might allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a heap-based buffer overflow in system timers. NOTE: this issue does not correspond to a specific vulnerability, rather a general weakness that only increases the feasibility of exploitation of any vulnerabilities that might exist. Such design-level weaknesses normally are not included in CVE, so perhaps this issue should be REJECTed.

The bug was discovered 11/02/2005. The weakness was released 11/04/2005 with Cisco (Website). The advisory is available at cisco.com. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2005-3481 since 11/03/2005. It is possible to launch the attack remotely. The exploitation doesn't require any form of authentication. The technical details are unknown and an exploit is not available.

It is declared as proof-of-concept. As 0-day the estimated underground price was around $25k-$100k. The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 20134 (Cisco IOS System Timers Remote Overflow (CSCei61732)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment. It is assigned to the family CISCO, running in the context l and relying on port 161. The commercial vulnerability scanner Qualys is able to test this issue with plugin 43094 (Cisco IOS System Timers Heap Buffer Overflow Vulnerability (cisco-sa-20051102-timers)).

Upgrading eliminates this vulnerability. Applying a patch is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at cisco.com. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version. A possible mitigation has been published even before and not after the disclosure of the vulnerability.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (20134), SecurityFocus (BID 15275†), OSVDB (20455†), Secunia (SA17413†) and SecurityTracker (ID 1015139†). If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.

Productinfo

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CPE 2.3info

CPE 2.2info

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 7.3
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 6.6

VulDB Base Score: 7.3
VulDB Temp Score: 6.6
VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv2info

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VulDB Base Score: 🔍
VulDB Temp Score: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

NVD Base Score: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Heap-based overflow
CWE: CWE-122 / CWE-119
CAPEC: 🔍
ATT&CK: 🔍

Physical: No
Local: No
Remote: Yes

Availability: 🔍
Status: Proof-of-Concept

EPSS Score: 🔍
EPSS Percentile: 🔍

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔍

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Nessus ID: 20134
Nessus Name: Cisco IOS System Timers Remote Overflow (CSCei61732)
Nessus File: 🔍
Nessus Risk: 🔍
Nessus Family: 🔍
Nessus Context: 🔍
Nessus Port: 🔍

Qualys ID: 🔍
Qualys Name: 🔍

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔍

Patch: cisco.com

Timelineinfo

11/02/2005 🔍
11/02/2005 +0 days 🔍
11/02/2005 +0 days 🔍
11/02/2005 +0 days 🔍
11/02/2005 +0 days 🔍
11/03/2005 +1 days 🔍
11/03/2005 +0 days 🔍
11/03/2005 +0 days 🔍
11/03/2005 +0 days 🔍
11/04/2005 +0 days 🔍
11/07/2005 +3 days 🔍
01/26/2006 +80 days 🔍
04/03/2006 +67 days 🔍
06/29/2025 +7027 days 🔍

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: cisco.com

Advisory: cisco.com
Researcher: http://www.cisco.com
Organization: Cisco
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2005-3481 (🔍)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2005-3481
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-1866

OVAL: 🔍

CERT: 🔍
SecurityFocus: 15275 - Cisco IOS System Timers Heap Buffer Overflow Exploitation
Secunia: 17413 - Cisco IOS System Timers Potential Arbitrary Code Execution, Moderately Critical
OSVDB: 20455 - Cisco IOS System Timers Remote Code Execution
SecurityTracker: 1015139
Vulnerability Center: 10908 - [cisco-sa-20051102-timers] Cisco IOS 12.0 - 12.4 Heap Overflow, Critical
Vupen: ADV-2005-2282

Entryinfo

Created: 11/07/2005 11:26
Updated: 06/29/2025 02:35
Changes: 11/07/2005 11:26 (90), 07/05/2019 09:43 (1), 12/17/2024 08:53 (16), 06/29/2025 02:35 (2)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216:680:103

If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.

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