Cisco NX-OS Software for Nexus 5500, 5600, and 6000 Series Switches Precision Time Protocol Denial of Service Vulnerability
A vulnerability in the Precision Time Protocol (PTP) feature of Cisco Nexus 5500, 5600, and 6000 Series Switches running Cisco NX-OS Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected device. The vulnerability is due to a lack of protection against PTP frame flood attacks. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending large streams of malicious IPv4 or IPv6 PTP traffic to the affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause a DoS condition, impacting the traffic passing through the device.
- Published
- Oct 17, 2018
- Updated
- Jun 16, 2026
- EPSS
- 4.0% · 90th percentile
- CWE
- CWE-20
Sign in to follow · You’ll be notified if a followed record enters KEV, gets an exploit or is updated.
Report tools
Action score
35
Monitor
Low priority for now.
- CVSS
- 34 / 40 · 8.6 / 10
- CISA KEV
- 0 / 30 · Not listed
- EPSS
- 1 / 30 · 4.0%
CISA SSVC decision
- Exploitation
- none
- Automatable
- yes
- Technical impact
- partial
Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.
CNA vs NVD score
- NVD
- 8.6
- CNA · cisco
- 8.6
- agree
The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.
Affected systems
| Vendor | Product | CPE |
|---|---|---|
| cisco | nx-os | cpe:2.3:o:cisco:nx-os |
| cisco | nexus 5548p | cpe:2.3:h:cisco:nexus_5548p |
| cisco | nexus 5548up | cpe:2.3:h:cisco:nexus_5548up |
| cisco | nexus 5596t | cpe:2.3:h:cisco:nexus_5596t |
| cisco | nexus 5596up | cpe:2.3:h:cisco:nexus_5596up |
| cisco | nexus 56128p | cpe:2.3:h:cisco:nexus_56128p |
| cisco | nexus 5624q | cpe:2.3:h:cisco:nexus_5624q |
| cisco | nexus 5648q | cpe:2.3:h:cisco:nexus_5648q |
| cisco | nexus 5672up | cpe:2.3:h:cisco:nexus_5672up |
| cisco | nexus 5672up-16g | cpe:2.3:h:cisco:nexus_5672up-16g |
| cisco | nexus 5696q | cpe:2.3:h:cisco:nexus_5696q |
| cisco | nexus 6001 | cpe:2.3:h:cisco:nexus_6001 |
and 1 more
Affected versions
NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.
- cisco nx-os7.3(2)n1(0.8)
Versions reported by the vendor
Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (cisco). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.
Cisco Cisco NX-OS Software for Nexus 6000 Series
- 6.0(2)N1(2)affected
Same product
cisco: all recordsOther highest-scoring records for the same primary product.
- CVE-2024-20399Cisco NX-OS Software CLI Command Injection VulnerabilityKEV57Plan
- CVE-2018-0301A vulnerability in the NX-API feature of Cisco NX-OS Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to craft a packet to the manag44Plan
- CVE-2016-1453Buffer overflow in the Overlay Transport Virtualization (OTV) GRE feature in Cisco NX-OS 5.0 through 7.3 on Nexus 7000 and 7700 devices allo41Plan
- CVE-2018-0310A vulnerability in the Cisco Fabric Services component of Cisco FXOS Software and Cisco NX-OS Software could allow an unauthenticated, remot40Plan
- CVE-2022-20650Cisco NX-OS Software NX-API Command Injection Vulnerability39Monitor
- CVE-2016-1341Cisco NX-OS 7.0(1)N1(1), 7.0(1)N1(3), and 7.0(4)N1(1) on Nexus 2000 Fabric Extender devices has a blank root password, which allows local us39Monitor
Remediation
Which version to upgrade to
Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.
No fix version is recorded for this entry. Check the references for vendor advisories.
Exploit status
No known public exploit
No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.
Research context
For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.
Timeline
From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.
No dated events beyond publication.
FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).
Patch and commit links
Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.
No commit or PR link among the references.
Credits
All researchersFinders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.
No credits in the CNA record.
Variant candidates
Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.
No nightly-computed relations.
Chain candidates
An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.
—
Bug bounty scope
No known public program.
Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).
Technical details
Attack conditions
- Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
- No account or password is required.
- No user action is required.
- No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
If successful
- Confidentiality
- none
- Integrity
- none
- Availability
- high · the service can be disrupted
Impact can extend beyond the vulnerable component (scope changes).
- Attack vector
- Network
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality impact
- None
- Integrity impact
- None
- Availability impact
- High
Weakness class (CWE)
CWE-20 · Improper Input ValidationCVSS vector
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H
nvd-primary
Attack context
MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.
Attack patterns (CAPEC)
- Buffer Overflow via Environment VariablesCAPEC-10likelihood: High · High
- Server Side Include (SSI) InjectionCAPEC-101likelihood: High · High
- Cross Zone ScriptingCAPEC-104likelihood: Medium · High
- Command Line Execution through SQL InjectionCAPEC-108likelihood: Low · Very High
- Object Relational Mapping InjectionCAPEC-109likelihood: Low · High
- SQL Injection through SOAP Parameter TamperingCAPEC-110likelihood: High · Very High
- Double EncodingCAPEC-120likelihood: Low · Medium
- Subverting Environment Variable ValuesCAPEC-13likelihood: High · Very High
ATT&CK techniques
- Obfuscated Files or InformationT1027
- Masquerading: Invalid Code SignatureT1036.001
- Steal Web Session CookieT1539
- Subvert Trust Controls: Code SigningT1553.002
- Impair Defenses:Impair Command History LoggingT1562.003
- Hijack Execution Flow:Dynamic Linker HijackingT1574.006
- Hijack Execution Flow:Path Interception by PATH Environment VariableT1574.007
Noroxi analysis
No Noroxi analysis for this record yet
We don't hand-write analysis for all 385,000+ vulnerabilities; that wouldn't be honest. For notable, high-impact vulnerabilities our team writes the mechanism, detection and remediation steps.
We use this product, ask for helpChange log
No changes recorded on tracked fields yet. Score, KEV, exploit maturity and fix status changes appear here.
References
- www.securityfocus.com/bid/105669
- www.securitytracker.com/id/1041920
- tools.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-20181017-nexus-ptp-dos
Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.