Secure Firewall Threat DefenseApplication · Cisco
CVE-2018-15390
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 FTP inspection engine of Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause an affected device to reload, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition. The vulnerability exists because the affected software fails to release spinlocks when a device is running low on system memory, if the software is configured to apply FTP inspection and an access control rule to transit traffic, and the access control rule is associated with an FTP file policy. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a high rate of transit traffic through an affected device to cause a low-memory condition on the device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause a software panic on the affected device, which could cause the device to reload and result in a temporary DoS condition.
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 Cisco FTD's FTP inspection engine fails to release spinlocks during low-memory conditions when FTP inspection is enabled with an access control rule associated with an FTP file policy. An attacker sending high-rate transit traffic to trigger memory exhaustion causes a software panic, resulting in device reload and DoS.
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 Threat DefenseApplication
>= 6.2.3.0, <= 6.2.3.4CVSS 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
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/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 FTD software versionRun 'show version' or 'show running-config system info' on the device CLI to obtain the installed FTD version.Affected if The version falls within 6.2.3.0 through 6.2.3.4 (inclusive).
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Verify FTP inspection is enabledRun 'show running-config policy-map' or access the Firepower Management Center to inspect the inspection policy map. Look for 'inspect ftp' or 'ftp' inspection configuration within the policy-map.Affected if FTP inspection is explicitly configured in an inspection policy map that is applied to traffic.
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Confirm access control rule has FTP file policyRun 'show running-config access-list' or inspect access control rules via Firepower Management Center. Look for access control rules that reference an FTP file policy (often identified by file policy names containing 'ftp' or applied to FTP traffic).Affected if An access control rule is associated with an FTP file policy and both the access control rule and FTP inspection are actively applied to traffic.
The device is affected if it runs FTD version 6.2.3.0 to 6.2.3.4 AND has FTP inspection enabled with an access control rule that has an FTP file policy attached.
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 dataDisable FTP inspection policies or remove FTP file policy associations from access control rules when not required; apply Cisco-provided patches when available.
Fix this in Secure Firewall Threat Defense
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 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 $5,600.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-15390 — 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-2018-15390 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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