Cisco · IOS XR
CVE-2022-20821
Cisco IOS XR Software Health Check Open Port Vulnerability
What it is
A vulnerability in the health check RPM of Cisco IOS XR Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to access the Redis instance that is running within the NOSi container. This vulnerability exists because the health check RPM opens TCP port 6379 by default upon activation. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by connecting to the Redis instance on the open port. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to write to the Redis in-memory database, write arbitrary files to the container filesystem, and retrieve information about the Redis database. Given the configuration of the sandboxed container that the Redis instance runs in, a remote attacker would be unable to execute remote code or abuse the integrity of the Cisco IOS XR Software host system.
CISA: Cisco IOS XR software health check opens TCP port 6379 by default on activation. An attacker can connect to the Redis instance on the open port and allow access to the Redis instance that is running within the NOSi container.
What to do
Apply updates per vendor instructions.
Deadline for US federal agencies: June 13, 2022
More exploited flaws from Cisco
| Added | Vulnerability | Product | Severity | Attack chance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 25, 2022 | Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) Denial-of-Service | IOS XR | Medium 5.9 | 3.3% |
| Mar 25, 2022 | Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) Denial-of-Service | IOS XR | High 7.5 | 5.7% |
| Nov 3, 2021 | Software Discovery Protocol Format String | IOS XR | High 8.8 | 12% |
| Nov 3, 2021 | Software DVMRP Memory Exhaustion | IOS XR | High 8.6 | 3.7% |
| Nov 3, 2021 | Software DVMRP Memory Exhaustion | IOS XR | High 8.6 | 3.3% |
| Oct 14, 2026 | Relative Path Traversal | Secure Email Gateway | Critical 9.8 | 2.2% |
| Sep 30, 2026 | Hex Encoding | Catalyst SD-WAN Manager | Critical 9.8 | 39% |
| Sep 16, 2026 | Incorrect Use of Privileged APIs | Identity Services Engine | Critical 10.0 | 76% |
Sources: Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (CISA, public domain), CVE records (cve.org) and EPSS (FIRST). The chance of attacks is the EPSS estimate that someone will try to exploit the flaw in the next 30 days.