CVE-2009-5038

Severity: high (CVSS 7.8 v2.0)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 3.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2011-01-07 · updated 2026-06-16
Weakness: CWE-20

Description

Cisco IOS before 15.0(1)XA does not properly handle IRC traffic during a specific time period after an initial reload, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (device reload) via an attempted connection to a certain IRC server, related to a "corrupted magic value," aka Bug ID CSCso05336.

Affected products

Cisco IOS: before 15.0\(1\)xa — fixed in 15.0\(1\)xa

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Cisco IOS 15.0\(1\)xa. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/ios/15_0/15_0x/15_01_XA/rn800xa.pdf
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/45764
https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/64682
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/ios/15_0/15_0x/15_01_XA/rn800xa.pdf
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/45764
https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/64682

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