Mobility Express SoftwareOperating system · Cisco
CVE-2018-0226
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 assignment and management of default user accounts for Secure Shell (SSH) access to Cisco Aironet 1800, 2800, and 3800 Series Access Points that are running Cisco Mobility Express Software could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to gain elevated privileges on an affected access point. The vulnerability exists because the Cisco Mobility Express controller of the affected software configures the default SSH user account for an access point to be the first SSH user account that was created for the Mobility Express controller, if an administrator added user accounts directly to the controller instead of using the default configuration or the SSH username creation wizard. Although the user account has read-only privileges for the Mobility Express controller, the account could have administrative privileges for an associated access point. An attacker who has valid user credentials for an affected controller could exploit this vulnerability by using the default SSH user account to authenticate to an affected access point via SSH. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to log in to the affected access point with administrative privileges and perform arbitrary administrative actions. This vulnerability affects the following Cisco products: Aironet 1800 Series Access Points that are running Cisco Mobility Express Software Releases 8.2.121.0 through 8.5.105.0, Aironet 2800 Series Access Points that are running Cisco Mobility Express Software Releases 8.3.102.0 through 8.5.105.0, Aironet 3800 Series Access Points that are running Cisco Mobility Express Software Releases 8.3.102.0 through 8.5.105.0. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCva68116.
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 confidenceIn Cisco Mobility Express Software, when administrators manually create SSH user accounts directly on the controller (bypassing the default configuration or username creation wizard), the first manually-created account becomes the default SSH credential for associated access points. This account has read-only controller privileges but administrative privileges on the AP itself, allowing authenticated remote attackers to escalate privileges by SSHing to the AP using this default account.
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
Mobility Express SoftwareOperating system
= 8.3\(90.65\)= 8.4\(1.65\)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
- High
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check the Cisco Mobility Express Software versionAccess the wireless controller CLI and run 'show version' or use the web interface to view the controller status page. Look for the software version number.Affected if The version is 8.3(90.65) or 8.4(1.65)
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Identify manually-created SSH user accounts on the controllerRun 'show run | include username' in the controller CLI to list all user accounts. Compare this list against accounts created through the default configuration wizard.Affected if Any SSH user accounts exist that were created manually rather than through the default configuration or username creation wizard
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Verify the first manually-created account existsReview the user account list in chronological order of creation. The first account created manually on the controller (not via wizard) is the vulnerable account.Affected if A manually-created SSH user account exists and is the first such account on the controller
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Confirm associated access points use controller credentialsRun 'show ap config general' or 'show ap join summary' to list access points connected to this controller. These APs would inherit the default SSH credentials from the controller.Affected if Any access points are joined to this Mobility Express controller
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Test SSH access to an access point using the controller accountAttempt SSH to an associated AP IP address using the manually-created account credentials. This account has administrative privileges on the AP despite having read-only privileges on the controller.Affected if SSH authentication succeeds to the AP using the manually-created controller account
You are affected if running version 8.3(90.65) or 8.4(1.65) and have manually created SSH user accounts on the controller with associated access points that inherit those credentials.
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 dataUpgrade to Cisco Mobility Express Software releases beyond 8.5.105.0 or ensure SSH users are created using the default configuration or wizard rather than manual controller account addition.
Fix this in Mobility Express Software
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,984.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-0226 — 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-2018-0226 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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