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iOSOperating system · Cisco

CVE-2018-0255

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-04-19
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
95/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges

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 device manager web interface of Cisco Industrial Ethernet Switches could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to conduct a cross-site request forgery (CSRF) attack against a user of an affected system. The vulnerability is due to insufficient CSRF protection by the device manager web interface. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by persuading a user of the interface to follow a malicious link or visit an attacker-controlled website. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to submit arbitrary requests to an affected device via the device manager web interface with the privileges of the user. This vulnerability affects the following Cisco Industrial Ethernet (IE) Switches if they are running a vulnerable release of Cisco IOS Software: IE 2000 Series, IE 2000U Series, IE 3000 Series, IE 3010 Series, IE 4000 Series, IE 4010 Series, IE 5000 Series. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCvc96405.

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

Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the device manager web interface of Cisco Industrial Ethernet Switches (IE 2000-5000 series). The web interface lacks sufficient CSRF protection, allowing an unauthenticated remote attacker to trick authenticated users into executing arbitrary commands on the affected device by persuading them to click malicious links or visit attacker-controlled websites.

MitigationApply the Cisco IOS Software update that addresses CSCvc96405. Verify the current IOS version on affected devices and upgrade to a patched release. Restrict web interface access to trusted networks and educate users about avoiding suspicious links.

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
iOSOperating system
Affected:= 15.2\(5\)e

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
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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. Verify web interface is enabled on the device
    Run 'show running-config | include ip http server' or 'show running-config | include ip http secure server' to check if the HTTP or HTTPS web interface is configured and active
    Affected if The web interface is enabled (either HTTP or HTTPS server is configured)
  2. Determine the installed Cisco iOS version
    Run 'show version' or 'show version | include Version' to retrieve the currently running iOS firmware version
    Affected if The device is running Cisco iOS
  3. Compare installed version against the affected release
    Examine the version string from show version output and compare it exactly to 15.2(5)e. Note that only this specific version (15.2(5)e) is affected
    Affected if The installed iOS version is exactly 15.2(5)e

The device is affected if the web interface (HTTP/HTTPS) is enabled AND the installed iOS version is exactly 15.2(5)e.

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 IOS Software update that addresses CSCvc96405. Verify the current IOS version on affected devices and upgrade to a patched release. Restrict web interface access to trusted networks and educate users about avoiding suspicious links.

Fix this in iOS Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,130
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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-2018-0255 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