Multiple Cisco Operating Systems Unidirectional Link Detection Denial of Service Vulnerability

A vulnerability in the Unidirectional Link Detection (UDLD) feature of Cisco FXOS Software, Cisco IOS Software, Cisco IOS XE Software, Cisco IOS XR Software, and Cisco NX-OS Software could allow an unauthenticated, adjacent attacker to cause an affected device to reload.

This vulnerability is due to improper input validation of the UDLD packets. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending specifically crafted UDLD packets to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the affected device to reload, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition.

Note: The UDLD feature is disabled by default, and the conditions to exploit this vulnerability are strict. An attacker must have full control of a directly connected device. On Cisco IOS XR devices, the impact is limited to the reload of the UDLD process.

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-ios-nxos-xr-udld-dos-W5hGHgtQ [“https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-ios-nxos-xr-udld-dos-W5hGHgtQ”]

This advisory is part of the September 2021 release of the Cisco IOS and IOS XE Software Security Advisory Bundled Publication. For a complete list of the advisories and links to them, see Cisco Event Response: September 2021 Semiannual Cisco IOS and IOS XE Software Security Advisory Bundled Publication. [“https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/viewErp.x?alertId=ERP-74581”]