Cisco IOS, IOS XR, and IOS XE IKEv1 Information Disclosure Vulnerability
Cisco · IOS, IOS XR, and IOS XE
Cisco IOS, IOS XE, IOS XR, and PIX devices contain a flaw in the server-side IKEv1 implementation, which handles Internet Key Exchange negotiation. A remote attacker who can send a Security Association negotiation request to the affected IKEv1 service can obtain sensitive information from the device's memory, with no authentication or user interaction required.
The server IKEv1 implementation in Cisco IOS 12.2 through 12.4 and 15.0 through 15.6, IOS XE through 3.18S, IOS XR 4.3.x and 5.0.x through 5.2.x, and PIX before 7.0 allows remote attackers to obtain sensitive information from device memory via a Security Association (SA) negotiation request, aka Bug IDs CSCvb29204 and CSCvb36055 or BENIGNCERTAIN.
- Exploited
- Yes, in CISA KEV
- Reports
- 0
- Tactics
- 2/15
How an attack unfolds
Based on MITRE ATT&CKA public catalogue of the techniques attackers use, maintained by MITRE. Patchfirst uses it to describe what attackers do with a vulnerability. mappings. Select a step to see the evidence.Exploitation timelineDated milestones for a CVE: when it was disclosed, when exploit code became public, when exploitation was confirmed, and when threat reports named it.
First seen exploited 9 days after disclosure. Public exploit code (Metasploit) appeared 10 days after disclosure.
- Disclosedday 0
- First seen exploitedVulnCheck KEV evidence+9 days
- Public exploit codeMetasploit+10 days
- Added to CISA KEVEU database agrees+7 yrs
CISA KEV listing is when exploitation was confirmed, not necessarily the first attack.
MITRE ATT&CKA public catalogue of the techniques attackers use, maintained by MITRE. Patchfirst uses it to describe what attackers do with a vulnerability. techniques
2 TechniqueOne specific attacker behaviour in MITRE ATT&CK, such as T1190 “Exploit Public-Facing Application”. IDs with a dot, like T1059.004, are sub-techniques., grouped by TacticThe attacker’s goal at a stage of an attack in MITRE ATT&CK, such as Initial Access or Persistence. Each technique belongs to one or more tactics. in kill-chain order, 2 cited passages 2Initial AccessTA0001
Remote unauthenticated exploitation of exposed IKEv1 service
allows remote attackers to obtain sensitive information from device memory
CollectionTA0009
Reads sensitive data from device memory
obtain sensitive information from device memory
Lower-confidence links (1)
These come from early or generic mappings, text matching, or contradict this CVE’s details (for example a public-facing technique on a bug that needs a user to open a file). Shown for completeness.
- Exploitation for Credential AccessT1212 CTID attack_to_cve Phase 1 "Uncategorized" mapping (not staged by impact)
Detection
0 rules for this CVE · 163 general rules for its techniquesRules for this CVE
0Sigma ruleAn open, vendor-neutral detection rule for log data. Security teams convert Sigma rules into searches for their own SIEM. that reference CVE-2016-6415 directly.CVE-specific rules are not available in this build. Search SigmaHQ ↗
General rules for this CVE’s techniques
These detect the technique in general, not this specific vulnerability.
Exploit Public-Facing ApplicationT1190149 general rules
- Arcadyan Router Exploitationscriticaltest
- Citrix ADS Exploitation CVE-2020-8193 CVE-2020-8195criticaltest
- Citrix Netscaler Attack CVE-2019-19781criticaltest
- Confluence Exploitation CVE-2019-3398criticaltest
- CVE-2010-5278 Exploitation Attemptcriticaltest
- CVE-2020-0688 Exchange Exploitation via Web Logcriticaltest
- CVE-2020-10148 SolarWinds Orion API Auth Bypasscriticaltest
- CVE-2020-5902 F5 BIG-IP Exploitation Attemptcriticaltest
Data from Local SystemT100514 general rules
- OpenCanary - SMB File Open Requesthightest
- Potential Conti Ransomware Database Dumping Activity Via SQLCmdhightest
- SQLite Chromium Profile Data DB Accesshightest
- SQLite Firefox Profile Data DB Accesshightest
- VeeamBackup Database Credentials Dump Via Sqlcmd.EXEhightest
- Script Interpreter Spawning Credential Scanner - Linuxhighexperimental
- Script Interpreter Spawning Credential Scanner - Windowshighexperimental
- Shai-Hulud NPM Package Malicious Exfiltration via Curlhighexperimental
Sigma rules © SigmaHQ, Detection Rule License 1.1; linked, not reproduced.
What security researchers reported
Not named in any threat report yetAlso mentioned in 50 community threat pulses (AlienVault OTX)
Weaker evidencePulses are indicator collections that anyone can publish. A mention is not confirmation of exploitation.
- Actively_Exploited_Kev | Oct 29, 202628 Oct 2026
- Actively_Exploited_Kev | Oct 28, 202627 Oct 2026
- Actively_Exploited_Kev | Oct 27, 202626 Oct 2026
- Actively_Exploited_Kev | Oct 24, 202623 Oct 2026
- Actively_Exploited_Kev | Oct 23, 202622 Oct 2026
- Actively_Exploited_Kev | Oct 22, 202621 Oct 2026
- 44 more on OTX