Advanced Malware Protection For EndpointsApplication · Cisco
CVE-2018-15452
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 DLL loading component of Cisco Advanced Malware Protection (AMP) for Endpoints on Windows could allow an authenticated, local attacker to disable system scanning services or take other actions to prevent detection of unauthorized intrusions. To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker would need to have administrative credentials on the Windows system. The vulnerability is due to the improper validation of resources loaded by a system process at run time. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by crafting a malicious DLL file and placing it in a specific location on the targeted system. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to disable the targeted system's scanning services and ultimately prevent the system from being protected from further intrusion. There are no workarounds that address this vulnerability.
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 confidenceDLL hijacking vulnerability in Cisco AMP for Endpoints on Windows where improper validation of resources loaded at runtime allows an authenticated attacker with administrative credentials to place a malicious DLL in a specific location, which gets loaded by a system process and disables antivirus scanning services.
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
Advanced Malware Protection For EndpointsApplication
all versionsCVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/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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Confirm Cisco AMP for Endpoints is installedOpen Windows Control Panel > Programs and Features, or run 'Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product | Select-Object Name,Version' in PowerShell, and look for 'Cisco AMP for Endpoints' in the listAffected if The product appears in installed programs - all versions are vulnerable
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Identify the AMP installation directoryOpen Task Manager, find a Cisco AMP process (such as amp*.exe), right-click and select 'Open file location' to reveal the installation pathAffected if The product is running from any directory - all installations are vulnerable to DLL hijacking if an attacker can write to the target location
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Inspect the AMP directory for unauthorized DLLsUsing File Explorer or command 'dir /b C:\Program Files\Cisco\*.*', examine the installation folder for unknown or recently added DLL files that are not part of the standard installationAffected if A malicious DLL exists in the installation directory or the specific DLL load location that gets loaded by a system process
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Check if AMP services are runningOpen Services console (services.msc) or run 'Get-Service | Where-Object {$_.DisplayName -like "*Cisco*AMP*"}' in PowerShell, and verify the status of AMP servicesAffected if Any Cisco AMP service is stopped or disabled, which may indicate successful exploitation
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Review Windows event logs for DLL load warningsOpen Event Viewer > Windows Logs > Application and System, filter for event sources related to DLL loading or Cisco AMP warnings/errors around the time of suspected compromiseAffected if Event logs show DLL load failures, service crashes, or security warnings associated with AMP processes
A user is affected if Cisco AMP for Endpoints is installed and there is a malicious DLL in the specific location that gets loaded by an AMP system process, or if AMP services have been disabled.
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 patch from Cisco when available; restrict administrative access to trusted personnel and monitor system for suspicious DLL activity as interim measures.
Fix this in Advanced Malware Protection For Endpoints
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing3.0 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 $2,832.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-15452 — 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-2018-15452 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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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.
- 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