Cisco Security Response – Several researchers have reported on the use of Smart Install (SMI) protocol messages toward Smart Install clients, also known as integrated branch clients (IBC), allowing an unauthenticated, remote attacker to change the startup-config file and force a reload of the device, upgrade the IOS image on the device, and execute high-privilege CLI commands on switches running Cisco IOS and IOS XE Software. Cisco does not consider this a vulnerability in Cisco IOS, IOS XE, or the Smart Install feature itself but a misuse of the Smart Install protocol that by design does not require authentication.