CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2016-6474 — Cisco Ios security vulnerability

High CVSS 7.3

A vulnerability in the implementation of X.509 Version 3 for SSH authentication functionality in Cisco IOS and IOS XE Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to bypass authentication on an affected system. More Information: CSCuv89417. Known Affected Releases: 15.5(2.25)T. Known Fixed Releases: 15.2(4)E1 15.2(4)E2 15.2(4)E3 15.2(4)EA4 15.2(4.0r)EB 15.2(4.1.27)EB 15.2(4.4.2)EA4 15.2(4.7.1)EC 15.2(4.7.2)EC 15.2(5.1.1)E 15.2(5.5.63)E 15.2(5.5.64)E 15.4(1)IA1.80 15.5(3)M1.1 15.5(3)M2 15.5(3)S1.4 15.5(3)S2 15.6(0.22)S0.12 15.6(1)T0.1 15.6(1)T1 15.6(1.15)T 15.6(1.17)S0.7 15.6(1.17)SP 15.6(1.22.1a)T0 15.6(2)S 15.6(2)SP 16.1(1.24) 16.1.2 16.2(0.247) 16.3(0.11) 3.8(1)E Denali-16.1.2.

Severity
High
CVSS
7.3 (3.0)
Published
2016-12-14
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
operating-system
Weaknesses
CWE-287

Affected products

  • cisco / ios / 15.5(2.25)t

Matched remediation archetype

Authentication bypass and missing authentication

This catalog composition supplies bounded fallback guidance. Explicitly reviewed curated workflows load with the complete record below.

Check exposure

  • Map every affected endpoint and protocol path, including alternate ports, legacy routes, recovery flows, service accounts, and machine-to-machine access.
  • Confirm which deployments enable the affected authentication mode and whether the interface is reachable from untrusted networks.
  • Review session, token, credential, and proxy trust configuration without attempting account takeover.

Remediate safely

  • Apply the supported fix and centralize fail-closed authentication before protected request handling.
  • Remove default or embedded credentials, rotate affected secrets and sessions, and bind authentication decisions to the intended audience and channel.
  • Add negative tests for alternate routes, malformed or absent credentials, recovery flows, and proxy-derived identity.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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