Security Resilience

CVE-2024-20267

Memory Safety in Cisco Nx-Os 10.1\(1\) … 9.3\(9\)

Memory Safety
Published
29 February 2024
Modified
17 June 2026
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 8.6
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0093 60th percentile
Risk Priority 63 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2024-20267 is a high-severity Classic Buffer Overflow (CWE-120) vulnerability in Cisco Nx-Os. Its CVSS base score is 8.6 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique NTDS (T1003.003); ranked in the top 40% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A vulnerability with the handling of MPLS traffic for Cisco NX-OS Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause the netstack process to unexpectedly restart, which could cause the device to stop processing network traffic or to reload. This…

more

vulnerability is due to lack of proper error checking when processing an ingress MPLS frame. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted IPv6 packet that is encapsulated within an MPLS frame to an MPLS-enabled interface of the targeted device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition. Note: The IPv6 packet can be generated multiple hops away from the targeted device and then encapsulated within MPLS. The DoS condition may occur when the NX-OS device processes the packet.

CWE(s)
CWE-120

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1003.003 NTDS Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access or create a copy of the Active Directory domain database in order to steal credential information, as well as obtain other information about domain members such as devices, users, and access rights.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.004 LSA Secrets Credential Access
Adversaries with SYSTEM access to a host may attempt to access Local Security Authority (LSA) secrets, which can contain a variety of different credential materials, such as credentials for service accounts.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.006 DCSync Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access credentials and other sensitive information by abusing a Windows Domain Controller's application programming interface (API)(Citation: Microsoft DRSR Dec 2017) (Citation: Microsoft GetNCCChanges) (Citati…
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.008 /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to dump the contents of <code>/etc/passwd</code> and <code>/etc/shadow</code> to enable offline password cracking.
attack.mitre.org →
T1010 Application Window Discovery Discovery
Adversaries may attempt to get a listing of open application windows.
attack.mitre.org →
T1012 Query Registry Discovery
Adversaries may interact with the Windows Registry to gather information about the system, configuration, and installed software.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2024-20321Same product: Cisco Nx-Os
CVE-2016-6366Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2024-20451Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2023-20158Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2025-20333Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2023-20189Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2025-20115Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2024-20454Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2026-20100Same vendor: Cisco
CVE-2023-20159Same vendor: Cisco

Affected Assets

cisco
nx-os
10.1\(1\), 10.1\(2\), 10.1\(2t\), 10.2\(1\), 10.2\(1q\)

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

—

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V5.2.1

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation good match

Developer testing and analysis can find missing size checks before deployment.

SI-10 Information Input Validation good match

Input validation directly enforces size checks before buffer copies.

SA-8 Security and Privacy Engineering Principles partial match

Engineering principles require bounds checking and safe buffer handling in design.

SI-16 Memory Protection partial match

Memory protection limits the impact of an overflow once it occurs.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

ID.RA-01 partial match
blocks

Vulnerability identification processes such as code review or scanning detect classic buffer overflows before exploitation.

PR.PS-02 partial match
blocks

Routine patching replaces vulnerable code containing unchecked buffer copies with corrected versions.

PR.PS-06 partial match
blocks

Secure development practices directly enforce bounds checking and input validation that prevent classic buffer overflows.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

A.5.14 Information transfer partial match
removes
A.5.15 Access control partial match
removes
A.5.16 Identity management partial match
removes
A.5.17 Authentication information partial match
removes
A.5.18 Access rights partial match
removes
A.8.10 Information deletion partial match
removes

References