Vulnerability Monitor

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CVE-2018-0228


A vulnerability in the ingress flow creation functionality of Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause the CPU to increase upwards of 100% utilization, causing a denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected system. The vulnerability is due to incorrect handling of an internal software lock that could prevent other system processes from getting CPU cycles, causing a high CPU condition. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a steady stream of malicious IP packets that can cause connections to be created on the targeted device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to exhaust CPU resources, resulting in a DoS condition during which traffic through the device could be delayed. This vulnerability applies to either IPv4 or IPv6 ingress traffic. This vulnerability affects Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) and Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software that is running on the following Cisco products: 3000 Series Industrial Security Appliances (ISA), ASA 5500 Series Adaptive Security Appliances, ASA 5500-X Series Next-Generation Firewalls, ASA Services Module for Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Switches and Cisco 7600 Series Routers, Adaptive Security Virtual Appliances (ASAv), Firepower 2100 Series Security Appliances, Firepower 4110 Security Appliances, Firepower 9300 ASA Security Modules. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCvf63718.


Security Impact Summary

This vulnerability carries a HIGH severity rating with a CVSS v3.1 score of 8.6, indicating it can be exploited remotely over the network with relatively low complexity without requiring user interaction and does not require pre-existing privileges . The vulnerability impacts and availability (service disruption) for affected systems. Impacting 2 products from cisco, from cisco organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.

Historical Context

First disclosed in 2018, this vulnerability was reported during a period defined by widespread IoT adoption challenges, mobile security concerns, and the emergence of advanced persistent threat (APT) techniques. Contemporary mitigation strategies focused on secure development practices and third-party component vetting.


Published

2018-04-19T20:29:00.363

Last Modified

2024-11-21T03:37:46.627

Status

Modified

Source

[email protected]

Severity

CVSSv3.1: 8.6 (HIGH)

CVSSv2 Vector

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C

  • Access Vector: NETWORK
  • Access Complexity: LOW
  • Authentication: NONE
  • Confidentiality Impact: NONE
  • Integrity Impact: NONE
  • Availability Impact: COMPLETE
Exploitability Score

10.0

Impact Score

6.9

Weaknesses
  • Type: Secondary
    CWE-20
  • Type: Primary
    CWE-667

Affected Vendors & Products
Type Vendor Product Version/Range Vulnerable?
Application cisco adaptive_security_appliance_software < 9.1.7.20 Yes
Application cisco adaptive_security_appliance_software < 9.4.4.13 Yes
Application cisco adaptive_security_appliance_software < 9.6.3.17 Yes
Application cisco adaptive_security_appliance_software < 9.7.1.16 Yes
Application cisco adaptive_security_appliance_software < 9.8.2.14 Yes
Operating System cisco adaptive_security_appliance_software < 9.2.4.27 Yes
Operating System cisco adaptive_security_appliance_software < 9.9.1 Yes
Operating System cisco adaptive_security_appliance_software 98.1\(12.187\) Yes
Application cisco firepower_threat_defense < 6.1.0.6 Yes
Application cisco firepower_threat_defense < 6.2.0.5 Yes
Application cisco firepower_threat_defense < 6.2.2.2 Yes

References

How SecUtils Interprets This CVE

SecUtils normalizes and enriches National Vulnerability Database (NVD) records by standardizing vendor and product identifiers, aggregating vulnerability metadata from both NVD and MITRE sources, and providing structured context for security teams. For cisco's affected products, we extract Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) data, Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) classifications, CVSS severity metrics, and reference data to enable rapid vulnerability prioritization and asset correlation. This record contains no exploit code, proof-of-concept instructions, or attack methodologies—only defensive intelligence necessary for patch management, risk assessment, and security operations.