Getting Fixed Software Cisco is offering free software updates to correct this vulnerability for all vulnerable customers, regardless of contract status. Note, however, that because information about this vulnerability has been disseminated by third parties, Cisco has been forced to release this notice before updates are available for all software versions. The projected fix dates in the table above are subject to change, but represent Cisco's best estimate of the dates on which fixes will be available. As with any software change, you should check to make sure that your hardware can support the new software before installing it. Because fixes will be made available for all affected releases, this vulnerability will rarely, if ever, require an upgrade to a new major release.
Cisco recommends very careful planning for any upgrade between major releases.
When upgrading between major releases, you must be especially careful to make certain that no known bugs will prevent the new software from working properly in your environment. Customers with service contracts may upgrade to any software release, but must, as always, remain within the boundaries of the feature sets they have purchased. In general, customers without service contracts will be restricted to upgrading within a single row of the table above, except when no upgrade within the same row is available in a timely manner. The third party's announcement included sufficient information to allow any computer-literate person with a moderate interest in security to exploit the vulnerability. Customers should assume that any potential attacker is likely to know that this vulnerability exists, and furthermore is likely to know how to exploit the vulnerability.