Skip to content
Noroxi
NVD / CVE Program· CNA cisco

CVE-2020-3509: Cisco IOS XE Software for Cisco cBR-8 Converged Broadband Routers DHCP Denial of Service Vulnerability

HighCVSS 8.6 · v3.1—No exploit No fix recorded

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 34/100)

  • The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
  • Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 1.4% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 73% of all records.
  • 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.
  • According to CISA the attack is automatable: targets can be found by mass scanning.
  • According to the record, no fixed version is available yet.

Low priority for now. Update when a fix is released; follow the vendor's advisory.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS

A vulnerability in the DHCP message handler of Cisco IOS XE Software for Cisco cBR-8 Converged Broadband Routers could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause the supervisor to crash, which could result in a denial of service (DoS) condition. The vulnerability is due to insufficient error handling when DHCP version 4 (DHCPv4) messages are parsed. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a malicious DHCPv4 message to or through a WAN interface of an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause a reload of the affected device. Note: On Cisco cBR-8 Converged Broadband Routers, all of the following are considered WAN interfaces: 10 Gbps Ethernet interfaces 100 Gbps Ethernet interfaces Port channel interfaces that include multiple 10 and/or 100 Gbps Ethernet interfaces

Published
Sep 24, 2020
Updated
Jun 16, 2026
EPSS
1.4% · 73th percentile

Report tools

JSON

Action score

34

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
34 / 40 · 8.6 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
0 / 30 · 1.4%

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

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H

The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.

Get told when this record changes

  • Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
  • No public exploit code on record
  • No fixed version yet

If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.

Follow CVE-2020-3509

When you'll hear from us

  • when it enters CISA KEV
  • when exploit code appears or is weaponized
  • when the record is updated (including a fixed version)
  • when EPSS rises 20 points in a week

One daily email digest (06:00 UTC); connect a webhook for KEV listings and weaponized exploits every 10 minutes on paid plans, on the hour on the free plan.

Your free account also gets you

  • CVE alerts: add the products and versions you run, get the new CVEs that affect them
  • Uptime monitoring: 1 site, instant email when it goes down
  • Add your domain: subdomains and takeover risk scanned every week (1 domain)
  • 10 scans an hour on the security tools, at most 30 a day (3 a day without an account), an API key and MCP
  • All your scans in one panel: findings, what changed in the last scan, a report per domain or per client (PDF, share link)
All free tools

Sign up with email · Have an account? Sign in

Free account, no card. Unfollow any time.

Don't want an account? Get "Exploited this week" by email every MondayDon't want an account? RSS feed for cisco records
Is your version affected? Check it

Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

We use this product, ask for help

Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

VendorProduct
ciscoios xe
ciscocbr-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 IOS XE Software

    • n/aaffected

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

  • cisco ios xe16.7(1)

Same product

cisco: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2023-20198Cisco is providing an update for the ongoing investigation into observed exploitation of the web UI feature in Cisco IOS XE Software.KEV
    100Now
  • CVE-2023-20273A vulnerability in the web UI feature of Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to inject commands with the…KEV
    86Now
  • CVE-2018-0151A vulnerability in the quality of service (QoS) subsystem of Cisco IOS Software and Cisco IOS XE Software could allow an unauthenticated…KEV
    73This week

Published before and after this one in the same product

  • ← EarlierCVE-2020-3503Sep 24, 2020 · Cisco IOS XE Software Guest Shell Unauthorized File System Access Vulnerability
    24Monitor
  • ← EarlierCVE-2020-3508Sep 24, 2020 · Cisco IOS XE Software for Cisco ASR 1000 Series 20-Gbps Embedded Services Processor IP ARP Denial of Service Vulnerability
    29Monitor
  • Later →CVE-2020-3510Sep 24, 2020 · Cisco IOS XE Software for Catalyst 9200 Series Switches Umbrella Connector Denial of Service Vulnerability
    34Monitor

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.

Not on record for this CVE: EPSS history · patch commit or PR link · researcher credit · variant or chain candidate · public bounty program.

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-388 · 7PK - Errors

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/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.

MITRE has no CAPEC/ATT&CK mapping for this CWE.

References

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records