Identity Services EngineApplication · Cisco
CVE-2018-0216
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 web-based management interface of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to conduct a cross-site request forgery (CSRF) attack and perform arbitrary actions on an affected device. The vulnerability is due to insufficient CSRF protections for the web-based management interface of an affected device. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by persuading a user of the interface to follow a crafted link. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to perform arbitrary actions on a targeted device via a web browser and with the privileges of the user. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCvf69805.
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 confidenceCisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) has insufficient cross-site request forgery (CSRF) protection in its web-based management interface. An unauthenticated remote attacker can exploit this by tricking an authenticated user into clicking a crafted link, allowing arbitrary actions to be performed on the device with the victim's privileges.
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 EngineApplication
= 2.0\(0.249\)= 2.1\(0.476\)= 2.2\(0.471\)= 2.3\(0.298\)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
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/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.
-
Check Cisco ISE installed version via CLILog into the ISE CLI and run the command: show version. Look for the version number in the output.Affected if The version displayed matches 2.0(0.249), 2.1(0.476), 2.2(0.471), or 2.3(0.298).
-
Check Cisco ISE version via web interfaceLog into the ISE admin web interface, navigate to Administration > System > Settings > General, then click About. Record the version shown.Affected if The version shown is one of the affected versions listed above.
-
Confirm web-based management interface is in useVerify that the ISE admin web interface (typically on port 443) is accessible and operational by attempting to reach the login page.Affected if The web interface is accessible and users authenticate to it, as CSRF attacks require an authenticated session.
-
Inspect form submissions for CSRF token presenceLog into the ISE admin interface, use browser developer tools to inspect the HTML source of a state-changing form (such as creating a user or modifying a policy). Look for a hidden input field containing a token value.Affected if No anti-CSRF token field is found in the form, or the same token value is reused across different sessions (indicating insufficient protection).
You are affected if your Cisco ISE version matches 2.0(0.249), 2.1(0.476), 2.2(0.471), or 2.3(0.298) AND the web management interface is accessible and in use.
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 dataEnable and implement proper anti-CSRF tokens for all state-changing operations in the ISE web interface, validate Referer headers, and apply SameSite cookie attributes to session cookies.
Fix this in Identity Services Engine
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation16.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $8,960.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-0216 — 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-2018-0216 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
Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.
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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data