Secure Firewall Threat DefenseApplication · Cisco
CVE-2018-15462
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 TCP ingress handler for the data interfaces that are configured with management access to Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause an increase in CPU and memory usage, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition. The vulnerability is due to insufficient ingress TCP rate limiting for TCP ports 22 (SSH) and 443 (HTTPS). An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted, steady stream of TCP traffic to port 22 or 443 on the data interfaces that are configured with management access to the affected device.
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 TCP ingress handler for data interfaces configured with management access in Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to cause denial of service. The vulnerability stems from insufficient ingress TCP rate limiting on ports 22 (SSH) and 443 (HTTPS), enabling a crafted steady stream of TCP traffic to exhaust CPU and memory resources.
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
< 6.2.3.12>= 6.3.0, < 6.3.0.3CVSS 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
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/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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Identify the installed FTD versionRun the command `show version` or `show running-config | include version` on the FTD device to retrieve the exact software version number.Affected if The version falls below 6.2.3.12 OR is 6.3.0, 6.3.0.1, or 6.3.0.2.
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Locate interfaces with management access enabledRun `show running-config interface` or `show interface ip brief` to identify data interfaces that have the `management-access` or management-style configuration applied.Affected if Any data interface (not the dedicated management interface) is configured with management access capabilities.
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Verify SSH (port 22) accessibility on data interfacesRun `show running-config | include ssh` and check which interfaces accept SSH connections, or attempt an SSH connection test from an external host to data interface IPs on port 22.Affected if SSH is reachable on any data interface IP address.
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Verify HTTPS (port 443) accessibility on data interfacesRun `show running-config | include http` to check HTTP/HTTPS server settings, and verify if the management HTTPS service is bound to data interfaces rather than only the dedicated management interface.Affected if HTTPS management interface is accessible via data interface IP addresses.
The device is affected if the FTD version is vulnerable AND data interfaces have management access enabled with SSH or HTTPS exposed on those interfaces.
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 data6.2.3.126.3.0.3
Apply the vendor patch when available. Implement rate limiting on affected management-accessible interfaces for ports 22 and 443, or restrict management access to trusted networks to reduce attack surface.
Fix this in Secure Firewall Threat Defense
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation4.0 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 $3,408.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-15462 — 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-2018-15462 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
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