CVE-2018-1164
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 · uneditedThis vulnerability allows remote attackers to cause a denial-of-service condition on vulnerable installations of ZyXEL P-870H-51 DSL Router 1.00(AWG.3)D5. Authentication is not required to exploit this vulnerability. The specific flaw exists within numerous exposed CGI endpoints. The vulnerability is caused by improper access controls that allow access to critical functions without authentication. An attacker can use this vulnerability to reboot affected devices, along with other actions. Was ZDI-CAN-4540.
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 confidenceThe ZyXEL P-870H-51 DSL Router contains CGI endpoints with improper access controls that allow unauthenticated remote attackers to access critical functions. Attackers can exploit this authentication bypass to reboot the device and execute other privileged actions without any credentials.
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= 1.00\(awg.3\)d5CVSS 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
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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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Identify the router modelAccess the device's web management interface or check the device label/metadata to confirm it is a ZyXEL P-870H-51 DSL RouterAffected if The device is not a ZyXEL P-870H-51 model
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Check the firmware versionLog into the router's web interface and navigate to the status or firmware information page to locate the installed firmware versionAffected if The firmware version is 1.00(awg.3)d5
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Verify CGI endpoint accessibilityAttempt to access the router's CGI endpoints (such as /cgi-bin/reboot or similar reboot-related endpoints) directly via HTTP/HTTPS without providing any login credentialsAffected if CGI endpoints respond and allow access without authentication
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Test for authentication bypassSend a direct HTTP request to the router's CGI binary with a privileged action parameter (like reboot) without including any session cookies or authentication headersAffected if The device executes the requested action without returning an authentication or login redirect
A user is affected if they are running a ZyXEL P-870H-51 router with firmware version 1.00(awg.3)d5 and the router's CGI endpoints are accessible without requiring authentication 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 dataApply vendor firmware updates if available; otherwise, restrict external access to the router's management interface via firewall rules or network segmentation to block unauthorized CGI endpoint access.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation3.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-1164 — 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-2018-1164 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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- 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
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