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Elastic Services ControllerApplication · Cisco

CVE-2018-0121

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-02-22
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
A vulnerability in the authentication functionality of the web-based service portal of Cisco Elastic Services Controller Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to bypass authentication and execute arbitrary actions with administrator privileges on an affected system. The vulnerability is due to improper security restrictions that are imposed by the web-based service portal of the affected software. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by submitting an empty password value to an affected portal when prompted to enter an administrative password for the portal. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to bypass authentication and gain administrator privileges for the web-based service portal of the affected software. This vulnerability affects Cisco Elastic Services Controller Software Release 3.0.0. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCvg29809.

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 confidence

The Cisco Elastic Services Controller Software release 3.0.0 contains an authentication bypass vulnerability in its web-based service portal. An unauthenticated remote attacker can bypass authentication by submitting an empty password when prompted for administrator credentials, gaining full administrator privileges on the affected system.

MitigationApply the Cisco security update for CSCvg29809 to upgrade from affected Release 3.0.0. If no patch is available, consider network segmentation to limit access to the management portal and implement additional authentication controls such as IP whitelisting or VPN access.

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
Elastic Services ControllerApplication
Affected:= 3.0.0
Virtual Managed ServicesApplication
Affected:= 3.0

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
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify Cisco Elastic Services Controller version
    Run the command to display the ESC software version (typically via 'show version' or similar CLI command on the ESC appliance)
    Affected if The displayed version is exactly 3.0.0
  2. Identify Cisco Virtual Managed Services version
    Run the command to display the VMS software version on the affected system
    Affected if The displayed version is exactly 3.0
  3. Verify if the web-based service portal is enabled
    Check the ESC/VMS configuration or running services to determine if the web-based service portal interface is accessible
    Affected if The web-based service portal is enabled and reachable on the network
  4. Check authentication configuration for the portal
    Inspect the authentication settings for the web-based service portal, looking for password policy or authentication mechanism configuration
    Affected if Empty password authentication is permitted or no proper authentication is enforced on the portal

The environment is affected if either Cisco Elastic Services Controller version 3.0.0 or Cisco Virtual Managed Services version 3.0 is installed AND the web-based service portal is enabled, allowing potential bypass of authentication credentials.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply the Cisco security update for CSCvg29809 to upgrade from affected Release 3.0.0. If no patch is available, consider network segmentation to limit access to the management portal and implement additional authentication controls such as IP whitelisting or VPN access.

Fix this in Elastic Services Controller Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
16.0 hours of engineering $2,840
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2018-0121 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data