dbcve.org
Secure Firewall Management CenterApplication · Cisco

CVE-2018-0278

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2018-05-02
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
72/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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 management console of Cisco Firepower System Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to access sensitive data about the system. The vulnerability is due to improper cross-origin domain protections for the WebSocket protocol. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by convincing a user to visit a malicious website designed to send requests to the affected application while the user is logged into the application with an active session cookie. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to retrieve policy or configuration information from the affected software and to perform another attack against the management console. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCvh68311.

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 · moderate confidence

A vulnerability in the Cisco Firepower System Software management console allows unauthenticated remote attackers to access sensitive data due to improper cross-origin domain protections for the WebSocket protocol. Attackers exploit this by tricking authenticated users into visiting malicious websites that send WebSocket requests to the affected application, bypassing inadequate CORS controls for the WebSocket protocol. This enables retrieval of policy and configuration information from the management console.

MitigationApply the Cisco patch for CSCvh68311 which addresses proper cross-origin validation for WebSocket connections. Until patched, users should avoid accessing untrusted websites while logged into the Firepower management console.

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
Secure Firewall Management CenterApplication
Affected:= 6.1.0= 6.2.0= 6.2.1= 6.2.2= 6.2.3

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
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/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 checks

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

  1. Identify installed version of Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center
    Access the management console and navigate to System > Updates, or use the CLI command 'show version' to confirm the exact version number matches 6.1.0, 6.2.0, 6.2.1, 6.2.2, or 6.2.3
    Affected if Installed version is exactly 6.1.0, 6.2.0, 6.2.1, 6.2.2, or 6.2.3
  2. Verify management console is network-accessible
    Confirm the Firepower Management Center web interface is reachable from networks other than strictly trusted internal segments
    Affected if Management console is exposed to untrusted or external networks where unauthenticated users could potentially trigger the attack
  3. Confirm active authenticated sessions exist
    Review current user sessions on the management console via the Web UI session management or CLI session tracking
    Affected if Users maintain active authenticated sessions to the management console while browsing other websites
  4. Check WebSocket endpoint exposure
    Inspect network logs or firewall rules to determine if the management console WebSocket endpoints (typically on port 443) accept connections from unexpected origins
    Affected if WebSocket connections to the management console can be initiated from external or untrusted domains

Environment is affected if running an exact version match of 6.1.0 through 6.2.3 and the management console is accessible to networks where authenticated users might encounter malicious websites while logged in.

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 patch for CSCvh68311 which addresses proper cross-origin validation for WebSocket connections. Until patched, users should avoid accessing untrusted websites while logged into the Firepower management console.

Fix this in Secure Firewall Management Center Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,176.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-0278 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2018-0278 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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.

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