Workload Control CenterApplication · Ca

CVE-2018-8954

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-04-11
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
CA Workload Control Center before r11.4 SP6 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted HTTP request.

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 confidence

CA Workload Control Center versions prior to r11.4 SP6 contain a remote code execution vulnerability that allows unauthenticated attackers to execute arbitrary code by sending a specially crafted HTTP request to the affected service. The critical CVSS score of 9.8 indicates the vulnerability is network-exploitable with no user interaction required.

MitigationUpgrade CA Workload Control Center to r11.4 SP6 or later to remediate this vulnerability. If immediate patching is not feasible, consider network segmentation or restricting external access to the affected HTTP service as a temporary compensating control.

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
Workload Control CenterApplication
Affected:<= r11.4= sp1= sp2= sp3= sp4= sp5

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
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify CA Workload Control Center installation
    Locate the CA Workload Control Center installation directory and determine the installed version using vendor-provided tools, configuration files, or the administration console
    Affected if The installation cannot be located or version information is unavailable, preventing accurate vulnerability assessment
  2. Verify the installed version against affected ranges
    Compare the installed version number to the affected list: r11.4 and any service pack from SP1 through SP5
    Affected if The installed version is r11.4, r11.4 SP1, r11.4 SP2, r11.4 SP3, r11.4 SP4, or r11.4 SP5 (versions prior to r11.4 SP6)
  3. Confirm the HTTP service is exposed
    Determine whether the CA Workload Control Center HTTP service is running and accessible on the network, typically on ports 80, 443, or a configured application port
    Affected if The HTTP service is running and network-accessible, making it potentially exploitable

You are affected if CA Workload Control Center version is r11.4 or any service pack from SP1 through SP5 and the HTTP service is accessible on the network.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade CA Workload Control Center to r11.4 SP6 or later to remediate this vulnerability. If immediate patching is not feasible, consider network segmentation or restricting external access to the affected HTTP service as a temporary compensating control.

Recommended fix High confidence

CA Workload Control Center r11.4 SP6

  1. 1. Back up the current CA Workload Control Center database and configuration files
  2. 2. Download CA Workload Control Center r11.4 SP6 from the official CA Technologies (Broadcom) support portal
  3. 3. Stop the Workload Control Center services
  4. 4. Install r11.4 SP6 following CA's official upgrade documentation
  5. 5. Start the Workload Control Center services
  6. 6. Verify the upgrade was successful by checking the version information in the About section
  7. 7. Test critical business workflows to ensure normal operation
Caveat Service pack upgrades typically maintain backward compatibility, but test in non-production environment first

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Workload Control Center Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing10.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
32.0 hours of engineering $5,580
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Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-8954 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2018-8954 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • 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