dbcve.org
Prime CollaborationApplication · Cisco

CVE-2018-0141

HIGH · 8.4 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-03-08
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
89/100
Remediation priority · High
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 Cisco Prime Collaboration Provisioning (PCP) Software 11.6 could allow an unauthenticated, local attacker to log in to the underlying Linux operating system. The vulnerability is due to a hard-coded account password on the system. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by connecting to the affected system via Secure Shell (SSH) using the hard-coded credentials. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to access the underlying operating system as a low-privileged user. After low-level privileges are gained, the attacker could elevate to root privileges and take full control of the device. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCvc82982.

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

Cisco Prime Collaboration Provisioning 11.6 contains a hard-coded account password that allows unauthenticated attackers to gain low-privileged SSH access to the underlying Linux OS. Successful authentication against this hard-coded credential provides an initial foothold, from which privilege escalation to root is possible.

MitigationApply the vendor patch from Cisco (CSCvc82982) to remove the hard-coded credentials. Additionally, disable unused SSH accounts, enforce key-based authentication, and audit systems for unauthorized access stemming from this vulnerability.

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
Prime CollaborationApplication
Affected:= 11.6
Prime Collaboration AssuranceApplication
Affected:= 11.6
Prime Collaboration ProvisioningApplication
Affected:= 11.6

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/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 installed Cisco Prime Collaboration version
    Run 'show version' or check /opt/cpcu/VERSION file if the product is installed. Alternatively, query the application through its web interface or CLI.
    Affected if The installed version is exactly 11.6 for Cisco Prime Collaboration, Cisco Prime Collaboration Assurance, or Cisco Prime Collaboration Provisioning.
  2. Verify SSH service accessibility
    Check if SSH port 22 is open and listening: run 'netstat -tlnp | grep :22' or 'ss -tlnp | grep :22'. Also verify SSH service status via 'systemctl status sshd' or similar.
    Affected if SSH is enabled and reachable from network, providing an attack vector for the hard-coded credential.
  3. Inspect for the hard-coded account
    Review /etc/passwd or /etc/shadow files (with appropriate privileges) for any unexpected or undocumented system accounts that could correspond to the hard-coded credential mentioned in CVE-2018-0141.
    Affected if An undocumented account exists that was not created by administrators and matches the hard-coded credential.
  4. Review SSH authentication logs
    Examine /var/log/secure, /var/log/auth.log, or /var/log/messages for SSH login attempts. Search for successful logins from unusual source IPs or at unusual times.
    Affected if Successful SSH logins occurred using credentials that were not issued to legitimate administrators.
  5. Audit for unauthorized access or privilege escalation
    Check 'last' command output, review .bash_history for any unexpected commands, and look for new sudoers entries or modified /etc/sudoers file.
    Affected if Evidence exists of unauthorized shell access or attempts to escalate privileges to root.

A system is affected if it runs Cisco Prime Collaboration (Assurance or Provisioning) version 11.6 and has SSH accessible, as this version contains the hard-coded credential allowing unauthenticated SSH access.

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 vendor patch from Cisco (CSCvc82982) to remove the hard-coded credentials. Additionally, disable unused SSH accounts, enforce key-based authentication, and audit systems for unauthorized access stemming from this vulnerability.

Fix this in Prime Collaboration Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,490
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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-2018-0141 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
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