Vulnerability Monitor

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CVE-2018-5389

The Internet Key Exchange v1 main mode is vulnerable to offline dictionary or brute force attacks. Reusing a key pair across different versions and modes of IKE could lead to cross-protocol authentication bypasses. It is well known, that the aggressive mode of IKEv1 PSK is vulnerable to offline dictionary or brute force attacks. For the main mode, however, only an online attack against PSK authentication was thought to be feasible. This vulnerability could allow an attacker to recover a weak Pre-Shared Key or enable the impersonation of a victim host or network.

Security Impact Summary

This vulnerability carries a MEDIUM severity rating with a CVSS v3.1 score of 5.9, indicating it can be exploited remotely over the network but requires specific conditions to be met without requiring user interaction and does not require pre-existing privileges . The vulnerability impacts confidentiality (data exposure), for affected systems. Impacting 1 product from ietf 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

2018-09-06T21:29:00.220

Last Modified

2024-11-21T04:08:43.470

Status

Modified

Source

[email protected]

Severity

CVSSv3.0: 5.9 (MEDIUM)

CVSSv2 Vector

AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N

Access Vector: NETWORK
Access Complexity: MEDIUM
Authentication: NONE
Confidentiality Impact: PARTIAL
Integrity Impact: NONE
Availability Impact: NONE

Exploitability Score

8.6

Impact Score

2.9

Weaknesses

Type: Primary
CWE-521

Affected Vendors & Products

Type	Vendor	Product	Version/Range	Vulnerable?
Application	ietf	internet_key_exchange	1.0	Yes

References

https://blogs.cisco.com/security/great-cipher-but-where-did-you-get-that-key Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://my.f5.com/manage/s/article/K42378447 ([email protected])
https://web-in-security.blogspot.com/2018/08/practical-dictionary-attack-on-ipsec-ike.html Exploit, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/857035 Third Party Advisory, US Government Resource ([email protected])
https://www.usenix.org/system/files/conference/usenixsecurity18/sec18-felsch.pdf Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://blogs.cisco.com/security/great-cipher-but-where-did-you-get-that-key Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://my.f5.com/manage/s/article/K42378447 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://web-in-security.blogspot.com/2018/08/practical-dictionary-attack-on-ipsec-ike.html Exploit, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/857035 Third Party Advisory, US Government Resource (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://www.usenix.org/system/files/conference/usenixsecurity18/sec18-felsch.pdf Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)

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 ietf'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.