Identity Services EngineApplication · Cisco
CVE-2018-15459
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 administrative web interface of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to gain additional privileges on an affected device. The vulnerability is due to improper controls on certain pages in the web interface. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by authenticating to the device with an administrator account and sending a crafted HTTP request. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to create additional Admin accounts with different user roles. An attacker could then use these accounts to perform actions within their scope. The attacker would need valid Admin credentials for the device. This vulnerability cannot be exploited to add a Super Admin account.
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 confidenceAuthenticated privilege escalation vulnerability in Cisco ISE administrative web interface allows an attacker with valid admin credentials to send crafted HTTP requests that create additional admin accounts with different user roles. Cannot be exploited to create Super Admin accounts.
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
Identity Services EngineApplication
= 2.3\(0.298\)= 2.5\(0.1\)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
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/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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Check Cisco ISE versionLog into the Cisco ISE CLI and run the command 'show version' or access the admin web interface and navigate to Administration > System > Settings > Product Version to confirm the exact version installedAffected if Version equals 2.3(0.298) or 2.5(0.1)
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Review administrative user accountsLog into the Cisco ISE admin web interface and navigate to Administration > Identity Management > Identities > Users. Review the list of admin accounts for any unauthorized or unexpected accounts beyond the known legitimate administratorsAffected if Additional admin accounts exist that were not created by authorized administrators
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Inspect account creation logsIn Cisco ISE, go to Operations > RADIUS > Live Logs or navigate to Administration > System > Logging > Audit Logs. Search for 'User' or 'Admin' creation events, filtering by date and time to identify any unauthorized account creation activityAffected if Logs show admin account creation events that were not performed by known administrators
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Check for privilege escalation indicatorsReview Cisco ISE logs for commands or actions performed by newly created admin accounts that occurred shortly after account creation, indicating potential misuse of the unauthorized privilegeAffected if Actions were taken by admin accounts that should not exist or were created outside normal procedures
Environment is affected if Cisco ISE version is 2.3(0.298) or 2.5(0.1) and unauthorized admin accounts exist in the system or account creation events appear in logs without legitimate administrator origin
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 the Cisco ISE patch for this vulnerability. Monitor administrative account creation and review logs for unauthorized account activity until patched.
Fix this in Identity Services Engine
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,800.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-15459 — 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-2018-15459 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
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