VYPR
Unrated severityNVD Advisory· Published Mar 24, 2021· Updated Nov 8, 2024

Cisco IOS XE Software Easy Virtual Switching System Arbitrary Code Execution Vulnerability

CVE-2021-1451

Description

Easy VSS feature in Cisco IOS XE for Catalyst 4500 switches has a buffer overflow allowing unauthenticated remote code execution with root privileges.

AI Insight

LLM-synthesized narrative grounded in this CVE's description and references.

Easy VSS feature in Cisco IOS XE for Catalyst 4500 switches has a buffer overflow allowing unauthenticated remote code execution with root privileges.

Vulnerability

The Easy Virtual Switching System (VSS) feature in Cisco IOS XE Software for Catalyst 4500 and 4500-X Series Switches contains a buffer overflow vulnerability due to incorrect boundary checks in protocol packet processing. This affects devices running vulnerable versions of Cisco IOS XE when the device is in a specific state. [1]

Exploitation

An unauthenticated, remote attacker can send crafted Easy VSS protocol packets to UDP port 5500 while the device is in a specific state, triggering a buffer overflow when processed. [1]

Impact

Successful exploitation allows the attacker to cause a denial of service or execute arbitrary code with root privileges on the underlying Linux operating system. [1]

Mitigation

Cisco has released software updates to address this vulnerability. No workarounds are available. [1]

AI Insight generated on May 26, 2026. Synthesized from this CVE's description and the cited reference URLs; citations are validated against the source bundle.

Affected products

4

Patches

0

No patches discovered yet.

Vulnerability mechanics

No source-code context for this CVE — mechanics is only generated when we can read the actual fix diff. Without that, the four sections (root cause, attack vector, affected code, fix) would be speculation rather than analysis.

References

1

News mentions

0

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