Cisco IOS up to 12.3XE OSPF Packet denial of service

CVSS Meta Temp Score
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CTI Interest Score
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7.2$0-$5k0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical has been found in Cisco IOS up to 12.3XE. Impacted is an unknown function of the component OSPF Packet Handler. The manipulation leads to denial of service. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2004-1454. The attack is possible to be carried out remotely. No exploit exists. Applying a patch is the recommended action to fix this issue.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Cisco IOS up to 12.3XE (Router Operating System) and classified as critical. This issue affects some unknown processing of the component OSPF Packet Handler. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a denial of service vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-404. The product does not release or incorrectly releases a resource before it is made available for re-use. Impacted is availability. The summary by CVE is:

Cisco IOS 12.0S, 12.2, and 12.3, with Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) enabled, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (device reload) via a malformed OSPF packet.

The bug was discovered 08/18/2004. The weakness was disclosed 08/18/2004 with Cisco (Website). The advisory is shared at cisco.com. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2004-1454 since 02/13/2005. The attack may be initiated remotely. No form of authentication is needed for a successful exploitation. Neither technical details nor an exploit are publicly available. MITRE ATT&CK project uses the attack technique T1499 for this issue.

We expect the 0-day to have been worth approximately $5k-$25k. The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 14337 (Cisco IOS OSPF Packet Handling DoS (CSCec16481)), 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 43299 (Cisco IOS Malformed OSPF Packet Denial of Service Vulnerability (cisco-sa-20040818-ospf)).

Upgrading to version indicated in Cisco IOS version matrix 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 patching the affected component. A possible mitigation has been published immediately after the disclosure of the vulnerability.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at X-Force (17033), Tenable (14337), SecurityFocus (BID 10971†), OSVDB (9009†) and Secunia (SA12322†). If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.

Productinfo

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Version

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Website

CPE 2.3info

CPE 2.2info

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 7.5
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 7.2

VulDB Base Score: 7.5
VulDB Temp Score: 7.2
VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv2info

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

NVD Base Score: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Denial of service
CWE: CWE-404
CAPEC: 🔍
ATT&CK: 🔍

Physical: No
Local: No
Remote: Yes

Availability: 🔍
Status: Not defined

EPSS Score: 🔍
EPSS Percentile: 🔍

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔍

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Nessus ID: 14337
Nessus Name: Cisco IOS OSPF Packet Handling DoS (CSCec16481)
Nessus File: 🔍
Nessus Risk: 🔍
Nessus Family: 🔍
Nessus Context: 🔍
Nessus Port: 🔍

Qualys ID: 🔍
Qualys Name: 🔍

Threat Intelligenceinfo

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

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Patch
Status: 🔍

Reaction Time: 🔍
0-Day Time: 🔍
Exposure Time: 🔍

Upgrade: IOS indicated in Cisco IOS version matrix
Patch: cisco.com

Timelineinfo

08/18/2004 🔍
08/18/2004 +0 days 🔍
08/18/2004 +0 days 🔍
08/18/2004 +0 days 🔍
08/18/2004 +0 days 🔍
08/18/2004 +0 days 🔍
08/19/2004 +1 days 🔍
08/19/2004 +0 days 🔍
08/22/2004 +2 days 🔍
08/23/2004 +1 days 🔍
09/02/2004 +10 days 🔍
12/31/2004 +120 days 🔍
02/13/2005 +44 days 🔍
07/06/2025 +7448 days 🔍

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: cisco.com

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

CVE: CVE-2004-1454 (🔍)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2004-1454
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-797
CERT: 🔍
X-Force: 17033 - Cisco IOS OSPF denial of service, Medium Risk
SecurityFocus: 10971 - Cisco IOS OSPF Remote Denial Of Service Vulnerability
Secunia: 12322 - Cisco IOS OSPF Packet Handling Denial of Service Vulnerability, Less Critical
OSVDB: 9009 - Cisco IOS OSPF Packet Handling DoS
SecurityTracker: 1010981
SecuriTeam: securiteam.com
Vulnerability Center: 5257 - [cisco-sa-20040818-ospf] DoS in Cisco 12.0S, 12.2, and 12.3 via the OSPF protocol, Medium

Entryinfo

Created: 08/23/2004 12:00
Updated: 07/06/2025 18:46
Changes: 08/23/2004 12:00 (94), 06/29/2019 08:58 (2), 11/21/2024 14:10 (17), 07/06/2025 18:46 (2)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

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