Cisco Systems Inc. on Friday confirmed that a security hole in its Internetwork Operating System could be exploited by remote attackers to execute arbitrary code.

The routing and switching giant's confirmation comes just days after details on the extent of the flaw were released at the Black Hat Briefings here by former Internet Security Systems Inc. researcher Michael Lynn.

Lynn's dramatic presentation caused quite a stir and prompted Cisco and ISS to file an injunction and temporary restraining order to block the further dissemination of information on the IOS flaw.

Cisco is now coming clean on the extent of the flaw, which carries a "high risk rating" and could cause much more than denial-of-service attacks on routers.

In an advisory Cisco said the IOS software contains a vulnerability in processing crafted IPv6 packets.

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