CVE-2021-1440
MEDIUMDescription
A vulnerability in the implementation of the Resource Public Key Infrastructure (RPKI) feature of Cisco IOS XR Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) process to crash, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition. This vulnerability is due to the incorrect handling of a specific RPKI to Router (RTR) Protocol packet header. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by compromising the RPKI validator server and sending a specifically crafted RTR packet to an affected device. Alternatively, the attacker could use man-in-the-middle techniques to impersonate the RPKI validator server and send a specifically crafted RTR response packet over the established RTR TCP connection to the affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause a DoS condition because the BGP process could constantly restart and BGP routing could become unstable.Cisco has released software updates that address this vulnerability. There are no workarounds that address this vulnerability.This advisory is part of the September 2021 release of the Cisco IOS XR Software Security Advisory Bundled Publication. For a complete list of the advisories and links to them, see .
How to fix
Remediation is compiled from vendor and distribution security advisories. Always confirm against the linked source for your exact version and platform.
CVSS v3 Vector
Exploitability
Impact
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H
Exploit Intelligence
Moderate risk: more likely to be exploited than 51% of all known CVEs.
References
Related Vulnerabilities
Other CWE-617 vulnerabilities, ordered by exploit likelihood. View all
| CVE | Severity | CVSS | EPSS | Exploited | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVE-2020-8617 | High | 7.5 | 93% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2020-36222 | High | 7.5 | 78% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2006-5779 | High | 7.5 | 75% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2021-27212 | High | 7.5 | 64% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2018-5740 | High | 7.5 | 59% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2023-28425 | Medium | 5.5 | 55% | - | Fix |
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Markdown
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Start freeThis product uses NVD data but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. EPSS scores courtesy of FIRST.org (https://www.first.org/epss). Source: CISA KEV Catalog. Data as of 2025-08-01.