CVE-2018-20306
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 stored cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the web administration user interface of Pulse Secure Virtual Traffic Manager may allow a remote authenticated attacker to inject web script or HTML via a crafted website and steal sensitive data and credentials. Affected releases are Pulse Secure Virtual Traffic Manager 9.9 versions prior to 9.9r2 and 10.4r1.
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 confidenceStored cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the web administration user interface of Pulse Secure Virtual Traffic Manager allows an authenticated remote attacker to inject malicious web script or HTML through crafted input, potentially leading to theft of sensitive data and 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>= 9.9, < 9.9r2>= 10.4, < 10.4r1>= 17.2, < 17.2r1CVSS 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
- Low
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
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 version of Pulse Secure Virtual Traffic ManagerAccess the web admin interface and navigate to the system information or about section, or run the product's CLI command to retrieve the version number (commonly 'vsadmin --version' or similar).Affected if The version falls within the following ranges: 9.9 to 9.9r1, 10.4 to 10.4r0, or 17.2 to 17.2r0 (i.e., version is >= 9.9 but < 9.9r2, OR >= 10.4 but < 10.4r1, OR >= 17.2 but < 17.2r1).
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Confirm the web administration interface is enabledCheck if the admin web UI is accessible on the standard management port (typically 8443 or 443) for the Traffic Manager. Attempt to access the login page.Affected if The web administration interface is exposed and reachable on the network.
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Verify if authentication to the admin interface is possibleAttempt to log in to the web admin interface with valid administrator credentials.Affected if You can successfully authenticate to the web administration console.
You are affected if your installed Pulse Secure Virtual Traffic Manager version is 9.9 through 9.9r1, 10.4 through 10.4r0, or 17.2 through 17.2r0 AND the web administration interface is enabled and accessible.
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 data9.9r210.4r117.2r1
Upgrade Pulse Secure Virtual Traffic Manager to version 9.9r2 or 10.4r1 or later to remediate this vulnerability.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-20306 — 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-2018-20306 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
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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