Oh no, you're thinking, yet another cookie pop-up. Well, sorry, it's the law. We measure how many people read us, and ensure you see relevant ads, by storing cookies on your device. If you're cool with that, hit “Accept all Cookies”. For more info and to customize your settings, hit “Customize Settings”.

Review and manage your consent

Here's an overview of our use of cookies, similar technologies and how to manage them. You can also change your choices at any time, by hitting the “Your Consent Options” link on the site's footer.

Manage Cookie Preferences
  • These cookies are strictly necessary so that you can navigate the site as normal and use all features. Without these cookies we cannot provide you with the service that you expect.

  • These cookies are used to make advertising messages more relevant to you. They perform functions like preventing the same ad from continuously reappearing, ensuring that ads are properly displayed for advertisers, and in some cases selecting advertisements that are based on your interests.

  • These cookies collect information in aggregate form to help us understand how our websites are being used. They allow us to count visits and traffic sources so that we can measure and improve the performance of our sites. If people say no to these cookies, we do not know how many people have visited and we cannot monitor performance.

See also our Cookie policy and Privacy policy.

This article is more than 1 year old

Lock up your top-of-racks, says Cisco, there's a bug in the USB code

It's almost 2016 and Nexus 5000 switches can be flummoxed by a dud driver

It's 2015, and the right stuff on a USB stick can still crash a substantial switch.

Cisco hasn't yet worked out how to fix this vulnerability, and as a result, the details it offers in the advisory are sparse.

What we can glean from the note is that the crash can only be triggered by a local user. Here's how Cisco explain the problem:

“The vulnerability is due to insufficient handling of USB input parameters. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending crafted USB parameters to be processed by the kernel of an affected device”

Naturally enough, the Borg hasn't detailed exactly what you have to load on a USB key to trigger the crash, but it'd be nice to think that most data centres will notice someone suspicious taking down their top-of-rack switches. ®

 

Similar topics

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like