Wireless Lan Controller SoftwareOperating system · Cisco
CVE-2018-0442
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 Control and Provisioning of Wireless Access Points (CAPWAP) protocol component of Cisco Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to retrieve memory contents, which could lead to the disclosure of confidential information. The vulnerability is due to insufficient condition checks in the part of the code that handles CAPWAP keepalive requests. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted CAPWAP keepalive packet to a vulnerable Cisco WLC device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to retrieve the contents of device memory, which could lead to the disclosure of confidential information.
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 confidenceA vulnerability in the CAPWAP protocol component of Cisco Wireless LAN Controller Software allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to retrieve memory contents due to insufficient condition checks in the code that handles CAPWAP keepalive requests. By sending a crafted CAPWAP keepalive packet, an attacker can read confidential information from device memory.
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
Wireless Lan Controller SoftwareOperating system
< 8.2.170.0>= 8.3, < 8.3.140.0>= 8.4, < 8.5.110.0>= 8.6, < 8.6.101.0>= 8.7, < 8.7.102.0CVSS 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
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify Cisco WLC device and access CLIConnect to the Cisco Wireless LAN Controller via console, SSH, or telnet and enter enable mode. Confirm the device model is a Cisco WLC.Affected if Device is not a Cisco Wireless LAN Controller
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Check installed WLC software versionRun the command 'show version' or 'show run-config' on the WLC CLI. Locate the software version number in the output (for example: 8.0.152.0, 8.3.100.0, 8.7.101.0).Affected if Version falls in any of these ranges: < 8.2.170.0, >= 8.3 and < 8.3.140.0, >= 8.4 and < 8.5.110.0, >= 8.6 and < 8.6.101.0, >= 8.7 and < 8.7.102.0
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Verify CAPWAP protocol is enabledRun the command 'show capwap summary' or 'show run-config | include capwap' to check if the CAPWAP controller is configured and active.Affected if CAPWAP is enabled and the version is vulnerable per the version check above
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Check for recent CAPWAP keepalive connectionsRun 'show capwap connections' or 'show client summary' to inspect active CAPWAP tunnel connections from lightweight access points.Affected if There are active CAPWAP tunnels and the version is in the affected range
The environment is affected if the Cisco WLC is running any software version below 8.2.170.0, between 8.3.0-8.3.139.0, between 8.4.0-8.5.109.0, between 8.6.0-8.6.100.0, or between 8.7.0-8.7.101.0, AND CAPWAP protocol is enabled on the controller.
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 data8.2.170.08.3.140.08.5.110.0
Apply the relevant Cisco security patch or upgrade to a fixed Cisco WLC software version. Restrict network access to WLC management interfaces to minimize exposure to unauthenticated attackers.
Fix this in Wireless Lan Controller Software
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-0442 — 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-2018-0442 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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