Cisco IOS XR Software IPsec Packet Processor Denial of Service Vulnerability

A vulnerability in the IPsec packet processor of Cisco IOS XR Software could allow an unauthenticated remote attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition for IPsec sessions to an affected device.

The vulnerability is due to improper handling of packets by the IPsec packet processor. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending malicious ICMP error messages to an affected device that get punted to the IPsec packet processor. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to deplete IPsec memory, resulting in all future IPsec packets to an affected device being dropped by the device. Manual intervention is required to recover from this situation.

Cisco has released software updates that address the vulnerability described in this advisory. There are workarounds that address this vulnerability.

This advisory is available at the following link:
https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-iosxr-ipsec-dos-q8UPX6m [“https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-iosxr-ipsec-dos-q8UPX6m”]