Identity Services Engine SoftwareApplication · Cisco
CVE-2017-12316
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedA vulnerability in the Guest Portal login page of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to perform multiple login attempts in excess of the configured login attempt limit. The vulnerability is due to insufficient server-side login attempt limit enforcement. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending modified login attempts to the Guest Portal login page. An exploit could allow the attacker to perform brute-force password attacks on the ISE Guest Portal. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCve98518.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceThe Cisco ISE Guest Portal has insufficient server-side enforcement of login attempt limits, allowing unauthenticated remote attackers to bypass configured thresholds and perform unlimited brute-force password attacks against the login page.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data
Identity Services Engine SoftwareApplication
= 2.1\(0.229\)CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify Cisco ISE is deployedConfirm the presence of Cisco Identity Services Engine in your environment by checking installed network appliances or software inventoryAffected if Cisco ISE is not present in your environment, this CVE does not apply
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Check installed Cisco ISE versionAccess the Cisco ISE administrative interface and navigate to Administration > System > Settings > Product Version to view the exact software version installedAffected if The installed version is exactly 2.1(0.229) - note that only this specific version is affected
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Confirm Guest Portal is enabledIn the Cisco ISE admin console, navigate to Guest > Guest Settings and verify the Guest Portal is configured and enabledAffected if The Guest Portal is not configured or is disabled, the vulnerability cannot be exploited through this attack vector
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Test login attempt enforcement (optional verification)From an external system, attempt multiple failed login attempts (20+) against the Guest Portal login page at https://<ise-host>/guestportal/gateway.jsp to observe whether account lockout or login throttling occursAffected if No account lockout or login throttling is enforced after repeated failed attempts, confirming the vulnerability is present
Your environment is affected if Cisco ISE version 2.1(0.229) is running and the Guest Portal is enabled, allowing unlimited brute-force login attempts without server-side enforcement.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataApply the Cisco ISE patch or updated version addressing CSCve98518 to enforce proper server-side login attempt limits, and verify the fix through login attempt testing.
Fix this in Identity Services Engine Software
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,624.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-12316 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2017-12316 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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