CVE-2022-20624
Published: 23 February 2022
Summary
CVE-2022-20624 is a high-severity Uncontrolled Resource Consumption (CWE-400) vulnerability in Cisco Nx-Os. Its CVSS base score is 8.6 (High).
Operationally, ranked in the top 8.2% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
Deeper analysis
A vulnerability in the Cisco Fabric Services over IP (CFSoIP) feature of Cisco NX-OS Software stems from insufficient validation of incoming CFSoIP packets. The flaw, tracked as CVE-2022-20624, carries a CVSS score of 8.6 and is associated with CWE-400 and CWE-20. It affects devices running the impacted NX-OS releases that have CFSoIP enabled.
An unauthenticated remote attacker can exploit the issue by sending specially crafted CFSoIP packets to an affected device. Successful exploitation triggers a reload, producing a denial-of-service condition. No authentication or user interaction is required, and the attack can be launched over the network.
The Cisco Security Advisory at the referenced URLs describes the affected software versions and available fixes. EPSS for the CVE rose from a low baseline to a peak of 0.1254 before receding to the current value of 0.0718, indicating a period of increased exploitation interest after disclosure.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2022-25874
Vulnerability details
A vulnerability in the Cisco Fabric Services over IP (CFSoIP) feature of Cisco NX-OS Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected device. This vulnerability is due to insufficient validation…
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of incoming CFSoIP packets. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending crafted CFSoIP packets to an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the affected device to reload, resulting in a DoS condition.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
No named actor attribution yet. ATT&CK technique mapping in progress for this CVE.
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Likely Mitigating Controls AI
Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.
Security testing and evaluation at multiple SDLC stages directly detects missing or flawed input validation, with the required remediation process ensuring fixes are applied.
Spam protection mechanisms perform filtering and detection on inbound/outbound messages, directly compensating for missing or weak input validation of unsolicited content.
Limiting concurrent sessions directly prevents uncontrolled resource consumption by capping the number of active sessions per user or account.
Analysis identifies uncontrolled resource consumption indicative of denial-of-service or abuse attempts.
Contingency plan testing includes resource exhaustion scenarios to verify recovery, making it harder for attackers to sustain exploits that cause uncontrolled consumption.
Updated contingency plans include current procedures to detect, contain, and recover from resource exhaustion, limiting an attacker's ability to sustain impact from uncontrolled consumption.
Alternate site allows resumption of operations if resource exhaustion at the primary site is exploited to cause unavailability.
Alternate telecommunications services enable resumption of essential functions when primary services become unavailable due to uncontrolled resource consumption.