Cisco IOS and IOS XE Software IP Ident Denial of Service Vulnerability

A vulnerability in the Ident protocol handler of Cisco IOS and IOS XE Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause an affected device to reload.

The vulnerability exists because the affected software incorrectly handles memory structures, leading to a NULL pointer dereference. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by opening a TCP connection to specific ports and sending traffic over that connection. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the affected device to reload, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition.

Cisco has released software updates that address this vulnerability. There are no workarounds that address this vulnerability.

This advisory is available at the following link:
https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-20190925-identd-dos [“https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-20190925-identd-dos”]

This advisory is part of the September 25, 2019, release of the Cisco IOS and IOS XE Software Security Advisory Bundled Publication, which includes 12 Cisco Security Advisories that describe 13 vulnerabilities. For a complete list of the advisories and links to them, see Cisco Event Response: September 2019 Semiannual Cisco IOS and IOS XE Software Security Advisory Bundled Publication [“https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/viewErp.x?alertId=ERP-72547”].