📄 Description (English)
Cisco IOS Software SNMP Remote Code Execution Vulnerability — The Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) subsystem of Cisco IOS 1 contains a vulnerability that could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to remotely execute code on an affected system or cause an affected system to reload. An attacker could exploit these vulnerabilities by sending a crafted SNMP packet to an affected system via IPv4 or IPv6.
🤖 AI Executive Summary
CVE-2017-6744 is a critical remote code execution vulnerability in the SNMP subsystem of Cisco IOS Software that allows an authenticated remote attacker to execute arbitrary code or cause a device reload by sending crafted SNMP packets via IPv4 or IPv6. With a CVSS score of 9.0 and known exploits available, this vulnerability poses severe risk to network infrastructure. Despite being disclosed in 2017, unpatched Cisco IOS devices remain prevalent in many enterprise environments. Organizations relying on Cisco routing and switching infrastructure should treat this as an urgent patching priority.
📄 Description (Arabic)
🤖 AI Intelligence Analysis Analyzed: Apr 8, 2026 19:56
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia Impact Assessment
This vulnerability has significant impact across Saudi Arabia's critical infrastructure. Cisco IOS devices are extensively deployed in Saudi telecom operators (STC, Mobily, Zain), government networks under NCA oversight, banking infrastructure regulated by SAMA, energy sector networks including ARAMCO and SEC, and healthcare systems. SNMP is widely used for network management across these sectors. Successful exploitation could lead to complete network device compromise, enabling lateral movement, traffic interception, or denial of service across critical Saudi infrastructure. The energy and telecom sectors are particularly at risk given their heavy reliance on Cisco routing infrastructure for operational technology and backbone networks.
🏢 Affected Saudi Sectors
Telecommunications
Government
Banking
Energy
Healthcare
Education
Defense
Transportation
⚖️ Saudi Risk Score (AI)
8.8
/ 10.0
🔧 Remediation Steps (English)
Immediate Actions:
1. Identify all Cisco IOS devices with SNMP enabled using network inventory tools
2. Apply Cisco IOS patches immediately — refer to Cisco Security Advisory cisco-sa-20170629-snmp
3. If patching is not immediately possible, implement these compensating controls:
- Restrict SNMP access using ACLs to only authorized management stations
- Use SNMPv3 with strong authentication and encryption instead of SNMPv1/v2c
- Change all default and well-known SNMP community strings
- Disable SNMP on devices where it is not required
- Implement Control Plane Policing (CoPP) to rate-limit SNMP traffic
4. Monitor for exploitation attempts using IDS/IPS signatures for malformed SNMP packets
5. Segment management networks from production traffic using dedicated management VLANs
6. Deploy network monitoring to detect unusual SNMP traffic patterns or device reloads
Detection Rules:
- Monitor for SNMP packets with abnormal sizes or malformed OIDs
- Alert on unexpected device reloads or crashinfo file generation
- Monitor Cisco IOS syslog for SNMP-related error messages
- Implement Snort/Suricata rules for CVE-2017-6744 exploit signatures
🔧 خطوات المعالجة (العربية)
الإجراءات الفورية:
1. تحديد جميع أجهزة Cisco IOS التي تم تمكين SNMP عليها باستخدام أدوات جرد الشبكة
2. تطبيق تصحيحات Cisco IOS فوراً — الرجوع إلى تحذير Cisco الأمني cisco-sa-20170629-snmp
3. في حالة عدم إمكانية التصحيح الفوري، تنفيذ الضوابط التعويضية التالية:
- تقييد الوصول إلى SNMP باستخدام قوائم التحكم في الوصول (ACL) للسماح فقط لمحطات الإدارة المصرح بها
- استخدام SNMPv3 مع مصادقة وتشفير قويين بدلاً من SNMPv1/v2c
- تغيير جميع سلاسل مجتمع SNMP الافتراضية والمعروفة
- تعطيل SNMP على الأجهزة التي لا تحتاج إليه
- تنفيذ سياسة مستوى التحكم (CoPP) للحد من حركة مرور SNMP
4. مراقبة محاولات الاستغلال باستخدام توقيعات IDS/IPS لحزم SNMP المشوهة
5. فصل شبكات الإدارة عن حركة المرور الإنتاجية باستخدام شبكات VLAN مخصصة للإدارة
6. نشر مراقبة الشبكة للكشف عن أنماط حركة SNMP غير العادية أو إعادة تشغيل الأجهزة
قواعد الكشف:
- مراقبة حزم SNMP ذات الأحجام غير الطبيعية أو معرفات OID المشوهة
- التنبيه عند إعادة تشغيل الأجهزة بشكل غير متوقع أو إنشاء ملفات crashinfo
- مراقبة سجلات Cisco IOS للرسائل المتعلقة بأخطاء SNMP
- تنفيذ قواعد Snort/Suricata لتوقيعات استغلال CVE-2017-6744
📋 Regulatory Compliance Mapping
🟢 NCA ECC 2024
ECC 2-3-1 (Network Security)
ECC 2-3-4 (Patch Management)
ECC 2-5-1 (Vulnerability Management)
ECC 2-2-1 (Asset Management)
ECC 2-7-1 (Security Monitoring)
🔵 SAMA CSF
SAMA CSF 3.3.3 (Network Security Management)
SAMA CSF 3.3.4 (Patch Management)
SAMA CSF 3.3.7 (Vulnerability Management)
SAMA CSF 3.3.11 (Security Monitoring and Event Management)
SAMA CSF 3.3.5 (Access Control)
🟡 ISO 27001:2022
A.8.8 (Management of technical vulnerabilities)
A.8.9 (Configuration management)
A.8.20 (Networks security)
A.8.21 (Security of network services)
A.8.16 (Monitoring activities)
🟣 PCI DSS v4.0
PCI DSS 6.3.3 (Install critical security patches within one month)
PCI DSS 1.3 (Network access controls)
PCI DSS 2.2.1 (System configuration standards)
PCI DSS 11.3 (Vulnerability scanning)
PCI DSS 10.6 (Review logs and security events)
🔗 References & Sources 0
No references.
📦 Affected Products / CPE 1 entries
Cisco:IOS software