CVE-2018-9285
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 · uneditedMain_Analysis_Content.asp in /apply.cgi on ASUS RT-AC66U, RT-AC68U, RT-AC86U, RT-AC88U, RT-AC1900, RT-AC2900, and RT-AC3100 devices before 3.0.0.4.384_10007; RT-N18U devices before 3.0.0.4.382.39935; RT-AC87U and RT-AC3200 devices before 3.0.0.4.382.50010; and RT-AC5300 devices before 3.0.0.4.384.20287 allows OS command injection via the pingCNT and destIP fields of the SystemCmd variable.
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 analysisUser input reaches a shell or system command without being fully separated from the command itself, so an attacker can append their own instructions. Because these run with the application's privileges, it often means full control of the host. The lasting fix is to avoid the shell entirely — call APIs directly and pass arguments as data, never as concatenated strings.
General guidance for the os command injection class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →
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< 3.0.0.4.384.10007< 3.0.0.4.384.10007< 3.0.0.4.384.10007< 3.0.0.4.384.10007< 3.0.0.4.384.10007< 3.0.0.4.384.10007< 3.0.0.4.384.10007< 3.0.0.4.382.39935CVSS 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
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 · scoped3.0.0.4.382.399353.0.0.4.384.10007
Firmware 3.0.0.4.384.10007 for RT-AC66U/RT-AC68U/RT-AC86U/RT-AC88U/RT-AC1900/RT-AC2900/RT-AC3100; Firmware 3.0.0.4.382.39935 for RT-N18U
- 1. Identify the exact ASUS router model from the affected list (RT-AC66U, RT-AC68U, RT-AC86U, RT-AC88U, RT-AC1900, RT-AC2900, RT-AC3100, or RT-N18U)
- 2. Download the appropriate firmware version from the official ASUS support website: for RT-AC66U, RT-AC68U, RT-AC86U, RT-AC88U, RT-AC1900, RT-AC2900, RT-AC3100 download version 3.0.0.4.384.10007 or later; for RT-N18U download version 3.0.0.4.382.39935 or later
- 3. Access the router's web management interface by navigating to the router's IP address (typically 192.168.1.1)
- 4. Navigate to Administration > Firmware Upgrade
- 5. Click 'Upload' and select the downloaded firmware file
- 6. Wait for the firmware upload and installation to complete (do not power off the router)
- 7. After reboot, verify the firmware version in the router administration interface
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-9285 — 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-2018-9285 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
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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