Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers Wireless Intrusion Prevention System Denial of Service Vulnerability

Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers (WLC) Wireless Intrusion Prevention System (wIPS) contains a vulnerability that could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition.

The vulnerability is due to improper handling of crafted IP packets by the wIPS software component used by the Cisco WLC. An unauthenticated, remote attacker could exploit the vulnerability by sending crafted IP packets to a targeted device. A successful attack could allow the attacker to cause the targeted device to reload, resulting in a DoS condition for legitimate users.

Cisco has confirmed the vulnerability in a security advisory and released software updates.

To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker must submit crafted IP packets to the targeted device, likely requiring access to trusted, internal networks. This access requirement limits the likelihood of a successful exploit.

Cisco indicates through the CVSS score that functional exploit code exists; however, the code is not known to be publicly available.