CVE-2019-15261
Cisco Aironet Access Points Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol Denial of Service Vulnerability
A vulnerability in the Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) VPN packet processing functionality in Cisco Aironet Access Points (APs) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause an affected device to reload, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition. The vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE) frames that pass through the data plane of an affected AP. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by associating to a vulnerable AP, initiating a PPTP VPN connection to an arbitrary PPTP VPN server, and sending a malicious GRE frame through the data plane of the AP. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause an internal process of the targeted AP to crash, which in turn would cause the AP to reload. The AP reload would cause a DoS condition for clients that are associated with the AP.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- None
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
8.6
Cisco Aironet Access Points Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol Denial of Service Vulnerability
A vulnerability in the Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) VPN packet processing functionality in Cisco Aironet Access Points (APs) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause an affected device to reload, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition. The vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE) frames that pass through the data plane of an affected AP. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by associating to a vulnerable AP, initiating a PPTP VPN connection to an arbitrary PPTP VPN server, and sending a malicious GRE frame through the data plane of the AP. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause an internal process of the targeted AP to crash, which in turn would cause the AP to reload. The AP reload would cause a DoS condition for clients that are associated with the AP.
- Record
CVE-2019-15261- CVSS 3.0
- 8.6 High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-20
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2019-6271
8.6
A vulnerability in the Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) VPN packet processing functionality in Cisco Aironet Access Points (APs) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause an affected device to reload, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition. The vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE) frames that pass through the data plane of an affected AP. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by associating to a vulnerable AP, initiating a PPTP VPN connection to an arbitrary PPTP VPN server, and sending a malicious GRE frame through the data plane of the AP. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause an internal process of the targeted AP to crash, which in turn would cause the AP to reload. The AP reload would cause a DoS condition for clients that are associated with the AP.
- Record
EUVD-2019-6271- CVSS 3.0
- 8.6 High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-3273-9gqr-v74w
8.6
A vulnerability in the Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) VPN packet processing...
A vulnerability in the Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) VPN packet processing functionality in Cisco Aironet Access Points (APs) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause an affected device to reload, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition. The vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE) frames that pass through the data plane of an affected AP. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by associating to a vulnerable AP, initiating a PPTP VPN connection to an arbitrary PPTP VPN server, and sending a malicious GRE frame through the data plane of the AP. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause an internal process of the targeted AP to crash, which in turn would cause the AP to reload. The AP reload would cause a DoS condition for clients that are associated with the AP.
- Record
GHSA-3273-9gqr-v74w- CVSS 3.1
- 8.6 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-20
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD
8.6
A vulnerability in the Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) VPN packet processing functionality in Cisco Aironet Access Points (APs) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause an affected device to reload, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition. The vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE) frames that pass through the data plane of an affected AP. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by associating to a vulnerable AP, initiating a PPTP VPN connection to an arbitrary PPTP VPN server, and sending a malicious GRE frame through the data plane of the AP. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause an internal process of the targeted AP to crash, which in turn would cause the AP to reload. The AP reload would cause a DoS condition for clients that are associated with the AP.
- Record
CVE-2019-15261- CVSS 3.1
- 8.6 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H - CVSS 3.0
- 8.6 High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H - CVSS 2.0
- 7.8 High
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C - Weakness
- CWE-20
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| aliases, published | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2019-15261 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 8.6) in Cisco Aironet 1810 Firmware, published October 16, 2019. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 1.37%, the 72nd percentile. No source names a fixed version.